Surge in Local Police Participation in ICE’s 287(g) Program

A new analysis by the immigration-reform advocacy group FWD.us shows that more than 29,000 state and local officers were deputized under ICE’s 287(g) program between January 2025 and October 2026. This figure dwarfs the roughly 11,600 ICE-directed deportation officers and represents a doubling of deputized officers over the previous eight months.

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Created in the 1990s under the Clinton administration, the 287(g) program was rarely used until the Trump administration revived it. The model allows local police and sheriff’s departments to make immigration arrests and, in exchange for “active and ongoing participation,” receive federal funding for equipment and vehicles.

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The report found that law-enforcement agencies in Florida and Texas together accounted for about half of the more than 47,000 immigration arrests made nationally through 287(g) from January 2025 to August 2026. Smaller-state participation also surged: in Wyoming, deputized officers made 77 % of the state’s immigration arrests in April 2026 and exceeded 60 % each month since November 2025. New Hampshire saw 60 % of its June 2026 arrests tied to the program, while Oklahoma’s Highway Patrol signed all troopers onto 287(g), resulting in close to 50 % of the state’s June 2026 immigration arrests.

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The Justice Department offered $3 billion in funding to state and local agencies that join 287(g); Florida has already allocated hundreds of millions of additional dollars to participating law-enforcement bodies. Felicity Rose, vice president of research and policy at FWD.us, attributes the surge in participation largely to these financial incentives and expects further growth.

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• “These state and local officers are a key lever in the administration's quieter approach to enforcement. They're trading what used to be splashy urban surges, which we saw in Chicago and Minneapolis, for just routine highway stops now under the 287(g) program,” — Sponsor Message Felicity Rose, vice president of research and policy at FWRD

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• “Even though Oklahoma may not be in the headlines, it's definitely a hotspot for immigration enforcement,” — Gabriela Ramirez-Perez

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