President-elect Donald Trump's immigration advisers are discussing plans to enlist local law enforcement to help the federal government deport undocumented immigrants, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The Trump transition team has begun discussions about having the Department of Homeland Security work with state and local police forces to fast-track the deportation of undocumented immigrants living in the country, people working with the transition team and others familiar with the plan told Newsweek.
The effort is focused on implementing Trump's campaign pledge to "deputize" state and local law enforcement to help carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. Doing so requires the Department of Homeland Security to enter into formal agreements with local law enforcement agencies through a program known as 287(g) that was established by a 1996 immigration law.
Democratic and Republican administrations have both used the 287(g) program in the past, and there are currently approximately 60 agreements in place in more than a dozen states between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local law enforcement agencies.
But immigration advisers to Trump are exploring ways to expand the program that won't get blocked in court by opponents, sources with knowledge of the talks said. Several spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the conversations.
"Nobody wants to see injunctions [in court] that go on for years," said Dan Stein, the president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a conservative advocacy group working closely with Trump's immigration team.
"That's the advantage of having people like Tom Homan who understand the legal traps and can avoid them," Stein said, referring to Trump's pick to serve as "border czar" in his administration.
Newsweek reached out for comment to a spokesperson for the Trump transition.
The plan being considered to deputize state and local police is just one part of Trump's broader immigration agenda, which centers on a proposal to deport millions of undocumented immigrants that would face numerous logistical challenges.
Enlisting local police to help carry out such a sweeping plan is seen as one way to marshal resources outside of the federal government to execute Trump's immigration priorities, several sources said.
The 287(g) program limits what state and local police can do to help enforce federal immigration law. It is primarily used by local law enforcement agencies to help ICE identify people who are in jail with criminal convictions and are eligible for deportation because they don't have legal status to live in the United States.
But immigrant rights groups fear that state and local authorities working hand-in-glove with ICE may take more aggressive actions, such as conducting workplace raids targeting undocumented immigrants. Those raids are normally carried out by ICE alone, not local police.
The 1996 immigration law was not intended to allow local law enforcement to round up anyone suspected of living in the U.S. without proper authorization, said Stephen Yale-Loehr, an expert on immigration law at Cornell University.
"It's not geared for local cops to go into a factory and see if they can find some undocumented immigrants to pick up," he said.
State and local law enforcement agencies that enter into 287(g) agreements with ICE are also required to train their offices in immigration law, and they remain bound by civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination based on race, ethnicity or national origin.
Still, critics predicted an increase in racial profiling by police if they're given greater authority in immigration enforcement matters.
"Were going to see that a lot more, people being pulled over for minor infractions because they look Hispanic and the police want to see if they have papers," said Jennifer Scarborough, an immigration attorney in Texas.
Some state and local law enforcement officials have resisted calls in recent years to get more directly involved in immigration enforcement. Since Trump's election, states with Democratic governors like California have signaled plans to oppose his immigration measures.
But leaders in Texas and other red states have already expressed interest in working with the incoming Trump administration on immigration issues, including buying up land for the federal government to use for detention centers.
Experts said they expect state and local law enforcement agencies in conservative parts of the country to jump at the chance to hand undocumented immigrants over to ICE for deportation.
Immigrant rights organizations preparing to battle Trump's policies said there may be little they can do to block ICE from delegating some authority to state and local police.
"Mass deportation will have a devastating effect on families and children, including U.S. children," said Lee Gelernt, an ACLU attorney who argued several high-profile cases during the first Trump administration. "Deputizing local police arrest to sweep immigrant communities will lead to extensive profiling and mistakes."
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