Four Indiana agencies have ICE agreements
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Several Indiana law enforcement agencies are cooperating with federal efforts to arrest and remove unauthorized immigrants through a partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Why it matters: An Axios analysis of removal orders, pending deportation cases and agreements between immigration officials and local law enforcement agencies nationwide sheds light on where the Trump administration is dispatching resources to support its mass deportation plan.
Zoom in: The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office is the only Central Indiana agency with a signed agreement with ICE known as a 287(g) agreement, per federal data.
- Others with such deals include sheriff's offices in Jasper and Noble counties and the Green Forks Police Department in Wayne County.
The big picture: Axios' review shows local law enforcement agencies in Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia have been most cooperative with ICE in rounding up immigrants through 287(g) agreements.
- More than 600 agreements are now in place across the country. About 43% of them are in Florida, followed by 14% in Texas and 5% in Georgia.
State of play: Hamilton County became the first in Indiana to opt into the 29-year-old program earlier this year.
- Lawmakers considered a bill that would have required sheriffs to participate in the program, which trains officers and then allows them to perform certain functions of immigration enforcement within their jails, and another that would have incentivized them to do so.
- The efforts failed, though, over concerns that forced participation wasn't the answer for all communities that already had the ability to opt in.
- Trump recently urged leaders of the National Sheriffs' Association to have their members partner with ICE.
The other side: Immigrant rights advocates are criticizing ICE's partnerships with local authorities, saying the pacts harm communities and public safety.
The latest: ICE announced last week that its Indianapolis team made more than 30 arrests in 24 hours and officers "attribute their success to the high number of cooperative agencies across Indiana, including 287(g) partners."