ICE to Offer Reimbursements, Performance Awards for State and Local Law Enforcement Partners

Starting Oct. 1, offices participating in the 287(g) program’s task force model will be eligible for federal funding.

The badge of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Hawthorne, Calif., on March 1, 2020. Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced reimbursement opportunities on Sept. 2 for its local and state law enforcement partners supporting the crackdown by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on illegal immigration, with funding provided by President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.

“ICE is not only supercharging our hiring, we are also multiplying partnerships with state and local law enforcement to remove the worst of the worst, including murderers, gang members, rapists, terrorists, and pedophiles from our country,” ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan said in a statement.

“Thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill, ICE launched a new reimbursement program for state and local law enforcement who partner with DHS to make America safe again.”

The local and state law enforcement offices that qualify for this reimbursement are those that are part of the 287(g) program’s task force model, which provides them with tools, training, and resources to enforce federal immigration law while fulfilling their normal duties.

A state trooper could identify an illegal immigrant at a DUI checkpoint and then report the discovery directly to ICE, where a supervisor would determine the next steps. The DHS stated that the trained officers “may also exercise limited immigration authority as active participants on ICE-led task forces.”

For example, state troopers are empowered to respond when they find out a person they stopped for speeding is in the country illegally. ICE already covers the training costs of those agencies that wish to participate.

Since Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem assumed her position, the number of 287(g) partnerships has grown from 135 to 958, with offices from 40 different states participating in the program. There are now 8,501 trained task force officers, and more than 2,000 additional officers are in training. Every county sheriff’s office in the state of Florida has signed up for the partnership.

Starting Oct. 1, DHS said, “ICE will fully reimburse participating agencies for the annual salary and benefits of each eligible trained 287(g) officer, including overtime coverage up to 25 percent of the officer’s annual salary.”

“Law enforcement agencies will be eligible for quarterly monetary performance awards based on the successful location of illegal aliens provided by ICE and overall assistance to further ICE’s mission to Defend the Homeland,” it stated.

Those awards include $1,000 per eligible task force officer for 90–100 percent success in locating illegal immigrants, $750 per officer for 80–89 percent success, and $500 per eligible officer for 70–79 percent success.

DHS said it continues to encourage state and local law enforcement agencies to partner with the federal law enforcement campaign by signing a 287(g) agreement.