More than 29,000 state and local law enforcement officers are now authorized to assist federal immigration enforcement, more than doubling the deputized force since February as ICE partnerships expand nationwide and immigration arrests increase sharply.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has expanded its partnerships with state and local law enforcement agencies to more than 29,000 deputized officers, creating an auxiliary immigration enforcement force substantially larger than ICE’s own deportation officer workforce, according to a new analysis released Tuesday.
The Oct. 27 report from immigration reform organization FWD.us found that the number of state and local officers authorized to perform immigration enforcement duties has approximately doubled since February. The estimated force now exceeds the roughly 11,600 deportation officers directly employed by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division.
The expansion follows President Donald Trump’s January 2025 decision to revive the Task Force Model under ICE’s 287(g) program, which allows participating police officers, sheriff’s deputies and state troopers to exercise specified federal immigration enforcement powers during routine law enforcement activities.
According to NPR’s Oct. 28 reporting, the growing partnerships have become an important component of the administration’s immigration enforcement strategy, extending federal immigration operations into communities where ICE maintains a limited direct presence.
Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, enacted in 1996, authorizes agreements allowing trained state and local officers to perform designated immigration enforcement functions under federal supervision.
The program operates through three models: the Jail Enforcement Model, the Warrant Service Officer program and the Task Force Model.
The first two primarily involve immigration enforcement activities concerning people already in local detention facilities. The Task Force Model extends those responsibilities into routine policing, including traffic enforcement and patrol activities.
Under the task force arrangement, participating officers may question individuals about immigration status, detain people suspected of immigration violations and transfer them to federal custody, subject to applicable legal restrictions.
The model was discontinued in 2012 following federal investigations that identified racial profiling and other civil rights concerns involving participating law enforcement agencies.
The Trump administration restored it on Jan. 20, 2025, arguing that expanded cooperation between federal and local authorities would strengthen immigration enforcement and public safety.
FWD.us estimates that between 26,000 and 33,000 officers are currently deputized through the Task Force Model, with a midpoint near 29,500.
As of Oct. 1, more than 1,850 state and local agencies across 30 states and two U.S. territories were participating in the model.
The program has expanded particularly rapidly in smaller communities.
According to the analysis, approximately four out of five participating local agencies serve jurisdictions with populations below 50,000.
Texas had 337 participating Task Force Model agencies, followed by Florida with 279, Missouri with 139, Pennsylvania with 137, Arkansas with 121 and Oklahoma with 113.
The report found that approximately 75% of participating agencies were located in the South.
State police and highway patrol organizations have also become significant participants, allowing immigration enforcement activities to occur during routine highway traffic operations.
Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma have enrolled their highway patrol forces, while Arkansas has authorized nearly all of its state police officers to participate.
The expansion has coincided with a substantial increase in immigration arrests attributed to deputized officers.
FWD.us found that participating state and local officers made more than 47,000 immigration arrests between January 2025 and early August 2026.
Monthly arrests rose from approximately 300 in January 2025 to 6,632 in July 2026.
During May, June and July, the program accounted for approximately 14% to 15% of all ICE arrests nationwide, compared with 2.5% in January 2025.
Florida accounted for more than 15,000 arrests, while Texas recorded approximately 9,000. Together, the two states represented roughly half of the arrests documented in the analysis.
The program’s influence was even greater in certain smaller states.
In Wyoming, deputized officers conducted 77% of immigration arrests in April 2026. In New Hampshire, they accounted for approximately 60% in June, while Oklahoma approached half of its statewide immigration arrests during the same month.
Those figures measure the program’s share of immigration arrests in specific states and months rather than its nationwide average.
Felicity Rose, FWD.us vice president of research and policy, described the partnerships as a major element of the administration’s enforcement approach.
Rose told NPR that the deputized officers are “a key lever in the administration’s quieter approach to enforcement,” allowing routine local policing to contribute to federal immigration arrests without the visibility of large-scale federal operations.
The strategy differs from immigration enforcement surges conducted in cities such as Chicago and Minneapolis, where deployments of federal personnel generated significant public attention.
In Oklahoma, immigration policy analyst Gabriela Ramirez-Perez of the Oklahoma Policy Institute said the expanding police partnerships have affected residents’ daily activities.
The program is “definitely resulting in a lot of fear in immigrant communities,” Ramirez-Perez told NPR, explaining that some residents have begun avoiding highways because of concerns about immigration questioning during traffic stops.
Supporters of the partnerships maintain that cooperation allows local police to identify immigration violations and assist federal authorities without requiring ICE to assign additional personnel to every jurisdiction.
The Department of Homeland Security has described 287(g) as an important tool for reducing crime and illegal immigration.
Critics argue that combining immigration enforcement with routine policing could discourage residents from reporting crimes or cooperating with local officers.
FWD.us also raised concerns about the financial incentives encouraging law enforcement agencies to enroll.
The Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs opened a $3 billion grant initiative this summer called Bridging Immigration-related Deficits Experienced Nationwide, or BIDEN.
Eligibility requires applicants to participate in a 287(g) partnership or commit to joining one, linking certain federal funding opportunities to immigration enforcement cooperation.
Separately, FWD.us estimates that participating agencies have received commitments or eligibility for approximately $1.9 billion to $2.2 billion in federal support through fiscal 2026.
The funding arrangements include startup expenses, equipment, vehicles and annual payments associated with participating personnel.
The organization estimates that roughly $1.5 billion of the available support consists of proposed annual stipends of $60,000 per deputized officer.
Those estimates represent projected or available funding and should not be interpreted as confirmation that every dollar has already been distributed.
The report also identified incentives associated with enforcement activity, raising questions about whether financial rewards could influence policing priorities.
Federal officials maintain that participating agencies operate under established agreements and training requirements.
The expansion has also raised questions about accountability because local officers exercising delegated federal authority remain employed by state or municipal agencies.
Disagreements over jurisdiction, supervision and civil rights protections have accompanied previous versions of the program.
The latest findings demonstrate that the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement campaign increasingly depends on cooperation from local police departments and sheriff’s offices.
With thousands of participating agencies and tens of thousands of deputized officers, the program now extends immigration enforcement activities across a much wider geographic area than ICE could cover through its direct workforce alone.
The resulting increase in arrests has made 287(g) a significant element of federal immigration policy, while its growing financial commitments and effects on local communities continue to generate debate over enforcement priorities and oversight.
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