On Monday, the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office entered into a 287(g) agreement with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The agreement “doesn’t change a thing about how the LCSO handles cases involving ICE,” Sheriff Mike Murphy said, but it does make the department eligible for a “substantial grant” from the Department of Justice.
How substantial?
Murphy said that if Livingston County makes the cut, the $7.5 million grant will be used to outfit the entire department with body cameras, as well as purchase a new mobile command center, state-of-the-art drone, and a robot dog.
“(Entering into) the agreement only formalizes the current practice that we have with cooperating with our fellow law enforcement officials,” Murphy said.
Murphy, a Republican candidate for the Michigan state Senate, said there are various versions of 287(g) agreements, and that Livingston County is operating under the warrant service officer model (WSOM).
“We are not joining a task force, we are not going door-to-door and doing ICE’s job,” Murphy said. “It allows my deputies to serve warrants on individuals already in jail. It’s no different that what we currently do at the state and local level.”
He explained that if the Michigan Department of Corrections places a detainer on a person in the Livingston County Jail, that person is held. “If the Kent County Sheriff’s Office has a warrant for a person in my jail, we serve and hold the person.”
The three variations of the 287(g) agreements under which law enforcement agencies operate are:
• Jail enforcement model: Authorizes designated officers to screen individuals in local custody for their immigration status, question them, and initiate removal proceedings.
• Warrant service officer model: A streamlined version that allows trained officers to serve and execute ICE administrative warrants on individuals already in jail.
• Task force model: Permits deputized local police and highway patrol officers to proactively investigate and enforce immigration laws during routine community encounters and patrols.
There were eight jurisdictions operating under 287(g) agreements in Michigan, with three rescinding their agreements in the past nine months. The sheriff’s offices in three counties — Jackson, Berrien, and Calhoun — are operating under the warrant service model like Livingston.
Several of the prior agreements have been rescinded, as you can see from the chart below:
A Facebook post from the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center urged residents and those concerned about the agreement to contact Livingston County officials and tell them to rescind the agreement.
The group said in a fact sheet about the agreements that the 287(g) program, “has been shown to result in racial profiling, be costly for localities, target individuals with little or no criminal history, and harm the relationship between police and local communities.”
