The Trump administration wants to step up despite the risks of racial profiling to help close out immigrants living illegally in the United States in search of more partners.

Even Democratic governors of Florida, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and even Arizona are pursuing statewide plans to help find immigrants for deportation.

Additionally, the number of state and local agencies planning a “taskforce” agreement with the Fed reached 121 divisions in 12 states: Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas.

The sudden promotion of a local task force agreement — which led to a racial profiling lawsuit that was common in Republican and Democrat states 20 years ago — is an indication that the Trump administration wants more deportation, said Tom Wong, associate professor and director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Center at the University of California in Sandiogo.

“These contracts are intended to be multipliers of the forces needed to enact mass deportations. The Trump administration is free to use all of its tools at its disposal to seek to strengthen the identification and detention of undocumented immigrants,” Wong said.

President Donald Trump wants to move quickly. recently Reassignment Caleb Vitello, acting director of immigration customs enforcement, became another post as immigrant arrests and deportation were not as robust as Trump had hoped. The US will do that need Deport more than 2,700 people a day to reach the target of 1 million people per year.

Doris Maisner, who gained the top position in former immigration and naturalization services in the Reagan and Clinton administrations, said the task force agreement was “essentially gone” due to its reputation for leading to “racial profiling and excessive policing in the immigrant community.” The agreement was cancelled in 2012 during the Obama administration.

“It changed dramatically and quickly with the new Trump administration,” Maisner said in an interview. “[The agreements] It is currently on the list of reinforcement measures seen in pursuit of massive deportation. ”

The administration is increasingly putting pressure on states and local governments to help arrest immigrants traditionally reserved for federal agents, according to February. Report Meissner is now director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program by the Institute of Immigration Policy, a think tank in Washington, DC.

Focus on crime

In addition to state and local law enforcement, the Trump administration has registered federal agencies that have never played a role in immigration enforcement before: the Internal Revenue Service, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

According to a, one outcome of local involvement Report Wong, written in 2019, is that residents are unlikely to report a crime when they are victims or witnesses after they learn that local police can question and arrest them on immigration charges.

The new task force agreement allows local law enforcement agencies to investigate immigration violations during daily patrol duties after training. Sheriff Larry Kendrick of Owyhee County, Idaho, said he chose it because county voters want it.

“My members support President Trump,” Kendrick said. “And of course I. I support the president’s mission 100%. I will do anything with my power to help him.”

Kendrick said he doesn’t expect non-criminals to cause trouble from deputies, including those who have local dairy farms in place.

“We weren’t really committed any crime,” Kendrick said. “The main thing that bothers me is fentanyl.”

Wong said it’s typical for counties like Oweehee. vote Almost 83% of Trump last year want to join forces with immigrants. However, he said that non-criminals are still likely to pay the price.

“It’s naive to think that local officials will focus solely on things like fentanyl. Many immigration enforcement functions will probably identify undocumented immigrants who have no criminal history,” Wong said.

Most officials emphasize the importance of eliminating criminals when seeking more task force contracts.

When announcing the revived task force program, Borderland Emperor Tom Homan said he not only plans to “prioritize” criminals, but also hopes to deport people who live illegally without criminal history.

“We have promised a massive deportation, and that’s exactly what we’re trying to do,” Homan told the sheriff at a meeting in February.

Republican New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayott said statement She supports state and local law enforcement agencies applying for new task force cooperation agreements. “Criminals that pose illegal and dangerous to our country should be arrested and removed,” she wrote.

There is no new interest

Some areas that used contracts decades ago are not interested in trying it out again. in 2010 In 19 states, there were 40 agreements in nine Virginia and seven in Arizona.

There has been no agreement between Virginia or Arizona so far, but it has been signed by Arizona Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs. Presidential Order On February 25th, they are seeking unspecified partnerships with federal authorities in the state’s four border counties. According to Hobbs’ statement, the goal is to stop more fentanyl and human trafficking, and to stop “closing people indiscriminately.”

The Arizona Sheriff has not heard anything specific about the governor’s plans, said David Rhodes, Yavapay County Republican Sheriff and president of the Arizona Sheriff’s Association. Yabapai County voted Heavy for Trump. And he’s happy to work with federal authorities on immigration, as Rhodes said much of the country’s fentanyl supply is smuggled into Arizona’s highways.

But I don’t know if he wants a task force model if it means he and his agent have to kick out single people based on their appearance to ask about the immigration situation.

“I don’t even know that I could see someone and see if they were illegally here, so we don’t do that. It’s very dangerous and very close to racial profiling there,” Rhodes said.

ICE guidelines issued in February state that “racial profiling is not simply acceptable.”

In Virginia, executive director of the Virginia Sheriff’s Association, sheriffs have yet to show interest in Virginia, where sheriffs had the most task force contract in any state in 2010. However, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed the February 27 executive order, demanding that state police work together with the state task force by signing a task force contract and a local prison.

In North Carolina, invoice Progress in the state Senate requires state agencies to work with federal immigration authorities, but does not include details.

In Hudson County, New Jersey, one of the few urban immigrant-friendly democratic regions that signed a task force agreement in 2010, leaders are not interested in trying again. Since 2018, the state has been in “Immigration Trust Order” Instruct local governments not to cooperate with federal immigration authorities or to inquire about immigrant status during daily police operations.

“There are types of abuse and we’ve heard of our constituents and supporters who are working on immigration here in Hudson County, so we realized that this policy isn’t going well for the county anymore, so we’ve dropped out of the agreement,” Saigan said.

Editor’s Note: This story has been renewed with a new contract announced as of March 5th.

Stateline It is a nonprofit news network that is part of the state newsroom and supports a coalition of grants and donors as a public charity of 501C(3). Stateline maintains editorial independence. For questions, please contact editor Scott S. Greenberger. [email protected].