Kansas law enforcement agencies sign up to help ICE conduct deportations

TOPEKA (KSNT) - Kansas' top law enforcement agency and some sheriff's offices are signing up to help enforce immigration laws in the Sunflower State. But what is included in these new partnerships?

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) recently signed an agreement with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in February this year. The stated purpose of the agreement was that it would allow a limited number of KBI agents to work alongside ICE personnel to enforce the nation's immigration laws in Kansas.

Melissa Underwood with the KBI told 27 News the agency has yet to make any arrests or deportations yet as of March 10. She said a total of four assistant special agents in charge (ASAC) are receiving specialized ICE training as part of the agreement.

"The agreement provides our agents, in coordination with ICE, the ability to leverage federal powers of arrest and deportation of non-U.S. citizens who are committing acts of violence or distributing drugs in our communities," Underwood said. "The KBI does not plan to target individuals for immigration violations, but rather plans to use this partnership as another tool in KBI priority cases."

Danedri Herbert with the Kansas Office of the Attorney General said in February the new partnership is allowed under Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) put in place in 1952. This section allows ICE to delegate to state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform some specified immigration officer functions while under the federal agency's oversight.

ICE lists three different models that can be enacted under the Section 287(g) program that allow it to work together with state and local law enforcement agencies. These include the following:

• Jail enforcement model (JEM) - Delegates some authority to state/local law enforcement agencies to identify people living in the nation illegally who are in state or local custody and place them into immigration proceedings.
• Warrant service officer (WSO) - gives legal authority to state/local law enforcement officers to execute civil immigration warrants on behalf of enforcement and removal operations within the confines of their detention facilities.
• Task force model (TFM) - acts as a force multiplier for state/local law enforcement agencies to enforce limited immigration authority with oversight provided by ICE during their routine police duties.

Kansas is not alone in working together with ICE to enforce immigration laws. ICE reports that, as of March 14, it has entered into multiple agreements with different law enforcement agencies in states across the nation.

• 76 JEM agreements in 23 states.
• 143 WSO agreements in 22 states.
• 140 agencies in 16 states.

ICE's website shows that six Kansas law enforcement agencies are registered with the Section 287(g) program to help federal officials deport people living in the state illegally. These include the following:

• Cowley County Sheriff's Office - WSO agreement.
• Finney County Sheriff's Office - WSO agreement.
• Jackson County Sheriff's Office - WSO agreement.
• KBI - TFM/WSO agreement.
• Reno County Sheriff's Office - WSO agreement.

President Donald Trump issued executive order 14159 "Protecting the American People Against Invasion" on Jan. 20, calling for Section 287(g) to be used in the nation. Trump's new policies were credited in the more than 20,000 deportations reported by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Feb. 26 after his first full month in the White House.

27 News reached out to the Kansas Office of the Attorney General for an updated comment on its relationship with ICE on Monday, March 10 but has yet to receive a response.

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