ICE lets local officials stop immigrants on the streets as task force program is back

by Tim Henderson, Louisiana Illuminator
February 24, 2025

As the Trump administration pushes for more deportations, the government has revived a long-abandoned program that lets local and state law enforcement challenge people on the street about immigration status — and possibly arrest them for deportation.

So far, state and county agencies in Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas have already signed up for the “task force” program that was dropped in 2012 after abuses including racial profiling were discovered, costing tens of millions in lawsuits. New Hampshire State Police will sign an agreement soon.

A webpage for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement noted 11 new agreements with agencies in five states between Feb. 17 and Feb. 19 for the controversial program. The program, known at ICE as its “task force model,” allows local law enforcement officers to challenge people on immigration status in the course of routine police work.

Agreements were shown for Florida’s state highway patrol and the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, Idaho’s Owyhee County Sheriff’s Office, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, three Oklahoma state agencies (the Department of Public Safety, Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Narcotics), the Texas attorney general’s office and sheriffs in Douglas County, Nevada, and the Texas counties of Goliad and Smith.

The task force agreements with ICE were discontinued in 2012 during the Obama administration after a 2011 Department of Justice investigation found widespread racial profiling and other discrimination against Latinos in an Arizona task force.

New agreements

The new task force agreements also are separate from other so-called 287(g) cooperation agreements that allow local sheriffs or police departments to help with investigations of people already arrested and booked into local jails.

The task force model goes further, with ICE describing it as a “force multiplier.” The federal agency trains and supervises local officers so they can arrest people for immigration violations during their day-to-day duties.

Florida was the first state to sign a Trump-era task force agreement for its state police agency, on Feb. 17, according to the site. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced more agreements Feb. 19. Other state agencies will participate in challenging people on immigration status: The Florida Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement, which inspects produce entering and leaving the state, has already signed an agreement, DeSantis said.

He said other state agencies will follow with task force agreements: the Department of Law Enforcement, which helps local police investigate crimes and guards the state Capitol; the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which patrols forests and waterways; and the State Guard, a volunteer military-type response agency that DeSantis reactivated in 2022.

“Our state law enforcement officers will finally be able to cooperate” not only through ICE arrests at local jails but also through the new agreements that give “expanded power and authority to interrogate any suspected alien or person believed to be an alien as of their right to be in the United States,” DeSantis said at a news conference earlier this month.

Elsewhere the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, which helps local police investigate crimes, announced its agreement Feb. 17. Director Tony Mattivi, in a news release, said the new powers would be “another tool to get known criminal offenders out of our community,” adding that his agents would focus on violent crimes, crimes against children and organized drug trafficking.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt announced the agreement Feb. 21; it was signed Feb. 18. In a statement, Public Safety Commissioner Tim Tipton said the task force will focus on “those who threaten public safety.”

‘We promised a mass deportation’

Immigrant advocates in Florida see danger in the task force interrogations for both immigrants and localities, such as the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, that decide to enlist in the program.

“They’re going to stop somebody for a routine traffic violation or loitering and ask about immigration status,” said Thomas Kennedy, a policy consultant for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, which represents 83 immigrant advocacy groups in the state.

“That’s bad for civil rights, it’s bad for our community, for trust between law enforcement and the community, for the reporting of crimes. But it also exposes municipalities and police departments to litigation,” Kennedy said.

In Arizona, Maricopa County was forced to pay $43 million in litigation fees from lawsuits before ICE stopped its task force partnership with the county in 2009. The fallout from a 2013 federal court finding of racial profiling is expected to boost taxpayer costs to $314 million this year.

Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, met with sheriffs at a February conference in Washington, D.C., and encouraged them to “help us on the street” by participating in the 287(g) task force program.

Homan told sheriffs he’s working to lower costs for their participation by cutting the training period for deputies from four weeks to about one week, and lowering legal liability costs with what he called “full-scale indemnification.” “If you get sued, the department [of Homeland Security] will help you out and defend you,” he said, getting applause from sheriffs in the audience.

It’s hard to say how many immigration arrests and deportations might result from the revived task forces. Local officers trained for task force agreements are generally busy with other patrol tasks. A 2011 report by the Migration Policy Institute — based on 2010 data, when there were 37 task force agreements in 18 states — found that task forces generated far fewer arrests than automated fingerprint scanning in local jails.

The task force agreements can also generate community controversy, as they did in Prince William County, Virginia, in 2007, when police at first screened anyone they detained on the street for immigration status. That policy led to “widespread fear and panic in the immigrant community,” according to the report.

In response, the county changed its policy to investigate immigration status only after arresting and booking at the local jail, the report noted.

While many state leaders said they plan to focus on dangerous criminals who also are living in the U.S. illegally, Homan said at the conference that others may be deported simply for immigration crimes.

“We promised a mass deportation and that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” Homan told sheriffs. “People are saying, ‘Oh my God, you said you were going to concentrate just on criminals.’ Yeah, that’s what we’re going to prioritize, but if you’re not in this country legally, you got a problem. You’re not off the table.”

This report was first published by Stateline, part of the States Newsroom nonprofit news network. It’s supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org.

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.

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SUMMARY: Meteorologist Chase Ward reports dense fog across the area, reducing visibility to less than a quarter mile and creating driving hazards. Although light drizzle is present, no significant rainfall is expected. Fog will persist until 10 AM, with temperatures remaining in the upper 30s to mid-40s. Conditions are expected to improve by lunchtime, reaching highs in the upper 50s to lower 60s. High pressure will dominate, maintaining mostly clear skies in the following days. A weather front is anticipated late Wednesday, bringing potential showers but overall, temperatures will stay above average as we transition into March.

Areas of fog have started to develop this morning. Clouds also still linger but will decrease by this afternoon with calm winds. Overnight, temperatures will fall to the lower 40’s. Patchy fog cannot be ruled out. High pressure continues to keep conditions mostly clear and quiet. By Late Wednesday, a front will move across where patchy showers will be possible along the front. Temperatures will not fall that much and will remain in the 60’s and 70’s through the weekend.

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Louisiana man with execution date next month dies at Angola

by Greg LaRose, Louisiana Illuminator
February 23, 2025

Christopher Sepulvado, the 81-year-old man who was facing execution next month for the 1992 murder of his stepson, died overnight at Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, according to his attorney.

Shawn Nolan, who had represented Sepulvado, said was sent to a New Orleans hospital last week for a leg amputation. Doctors instead sent him back to Angola, and it is believed the infection ultimately claimed Sepulvado’s life, according to Cecelia Kappel, another attorney representing death row clients.

Doctors had previously determined Sepulvado, who had multiple serious ailments, was terminally ill and recommended hospice care at the time a judge set his execution date for March 17, according to Nolan.

“Christopher Sepulvado’s death overnight in the prison infirmary is a sad comment on the state of the death penalty in Louisiana,” Nolan said in a statement. “The idea that the State was planning to strap this tiny, frail, dying old man to a chair and force him to breathe toxic gas into his failing lungs is simply barbaric.”

Sepulvado would have the first person Louisiana put to death using nitrogen hypoxia, a method state lawmakers and Gov. Jeff Landry approved last year. The death penalty hasn’t been carried out in Louisiana since 2010, when Gerald Bordelon, 47, received a lethal injection for the kidnapping and murder of his 12-year-old stepdaughter, Courtney LeBlanc, in Livingston Parish.

Next on Louisiana’s execution calendar is Jessie Hoffman, 46, who was sentenced to die for the 1996 rape and murder of 28-year-old Mary “Molly” Elliot. Authorities said Hoffman abducted Elliot in downtown New Orleans and brought her to St. Tammany Parish, where he raped and murdered her, leaving her body in a remote area near the Pearl River.   

Hoffman is scheduled to die March 18, though attorneys are challenging Louisiana’s new execution method in court on behalf of 10 death row inmates. There are currently 57 people facing the death penalty in the state.

DeSoto Parish Judge Amy Burford McCartney issued a death warrant Feb. 12 for Sepulvado for the killing of  6-year-old Wesley Allen Mercer. Police said the boy was beaten and scalded to death. His mother, Yvonne Jones, was convicted of manslaughter and served more than seven years in prison. 

Sepulvado was previously scheduled to die by lethal injection in 2013, but his attorney successfully argued that Louisiana officials could not provide enough information on the drugs being used to execute him. The lack of those details constituted cruel and unusual punishment, a federal judge ruled.

Multiple execution dates for Sepulvado have since been handed down and subsequently suspended as lawyers for him and other death row inmates have challenged the use of lethal injection.

Sepulvado’s motion for reconsideration was denied in November 2022, but U.S. District Judge Shelley Dick, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, agreed Friday to reopen the case. 

This is a developing story.

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.

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