From [HERE] A controversial program that allows state and local law enforcement to partner with federal immigration officials is rapidly expanding under the Trump administration. According to a recent Reuters story, the number of departments participating in so-called 287(g) agreements has doubled within the past 10 months, and 38 more jurisdictions have expressed interest in joining the program. 

The expansion shows that the Department of Homeland Security is increasingly turning to local law enforcement to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants—a strategy previously outlined in a February memo from then-DHS Secretary John Kelly, who called the program a “a highly successful force multiplier” and “critical to an effective enforcement strategy” while directing senior immigration officials to immediately engage with any interested jurisdictions. A Freedom of Information Act request from Reuters revealed that DHS officials have reached out to “scores” of jurisdictions about participating in 287(g).

“It fits right into what Trump wants to do,” says Bill Ong Hing, an immigration law professor at the University of San Francisco. “He promised to establish an army charged with rounding up and deporting undocumented immigrants. [287(g) agreements] are a convenient way for him to expand that deportation force.”

Many of the police departments that have joined or expressed interest in joining 287(g) are located in towns with small populations, and three-quarters of them are located in counties that voted for Trump during the 2016 election, according to Reuters. ICE now has 287(g) agreements with 60 law enforcement agencies in 18 states, with a large share of those agencies in Texas.  

287(g) has had a long and well-documented history of problems, and the ACLU has called it “one of the worst federal immigration enforcement programs.” Expanding it would have a “really chilling effect,” says Shiu-Ming Cheer, a senior staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center. “Immigrants will start seeing law enforcement as deportation agents. It’s going to create a wider sense of fear.”