McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — Civil rights groups held a national day of action on Wednesday to oppose a federal government program that allows local law enforcement to partner with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and help deport incarcerated immigration violators.

It is called the ICE 287 (g) program and it’s part of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which allows ICE to authorize state and local law enforcement peace officers to perform specified immigration officer functions — specifically to identify and remove non-citizens from the United States who have been incarcerated and arrested.

Peacekeepers who are part of the collaboration identify and process non-citizens from jails under the Jail Enforcement Model (JEM) program, and execute administrative warrants for non-citizens in their agency’s jails under the Warrant Service Officer (WSO) program.

As of June, the agency had a total of 137 such agreements with law enforcement agencies — 62 JEM agreements in 18 states and 75 WSO agreements in 11 states, according to ICE.

Most are Republican-led states. Twenty-six agreements are with peacekeeping forces in Texas. Arizona is the only other border state with agreements.

Florida is the state with the most agreements — 48, according to ICE data.

According to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) of Syracuse University, Texas has the most ICE detainees in Fiscal Year 2023.

Opponents were expected to hold rallies, vigils, marches and news conferences on Wednesday against the policy in Washington, D.C.; Fort Worth, Texas; Savannah, Georgia; Knoxville, Tennessee; East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Milwaukee.

They allege the policy is racist and want the Biden administration to end the practice.

“Now is the time for President Biden to use his executive leadership to end this program once and for all,” said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of the Milwaukee-based Voces de la Frontera. “The 287 (g) programs grew under the Trump administration but now we are witnessing its expansion at the state level by Gov. DeSantis in Florida and Gov. Abbott in Texas. They are cynically running on a political platform of xenophobia to try to win elections in 2024. The community is rising up in resistance across the nation.”

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center advocates for local lawmakers to enact ordinances that limit involvement with ICE officials.

A 2022 report by the American Civil Liberties Union called “License to Abuse; How ICE’s 287 (g) Program Empowers Racist Sheriffs and Civil Rights Violations,” accuses participating organizations with a “sordid civil rights record” of going after non-citizens.

“The program taps state and local law enforcement agencies to assist in identifying people for arrest and potential deportation,” the ACLU report found.

It went on to say that data obtained by examining agreements that ICE has with various law enforcement agencies found “it used anti-immigrant hate as its selling point.”

“The administration is empowering law enforcement officials who are unabashedly anti-immigrant or racist,” the ACLU report states.

Other findings from the ACLU report include:

• 59% of participating sheriffs have records of anti-immigrant, xenophobic rhetoric and contribute to a “continued climate of fear for immigrants and their families, undermining public safety and contributing to the risk of racial profiling.”
• 55% of participating sheriffs have made statements advocating inhumane immigration and border enforcement policies.
• 65% have records of a pattern of “racial profiling and other civil rights violations, including excessive use of force.”
• 77% run detention facilities with past records of human rights abuses.