Southeast Idaho sheriff signs up to help enforce immigration law

By Rachel Spacek / InvestigateWest 

PRESTON, Idaho (InvestigateWest) — A sheriff’s office in southeast Idaho is the second in the state to sign an agreement with federal immigration officials allowing deputies to act as immigration agents. 

Deputies in Franklin County, a rural Idaho county with just over 14,000 residents that borders Utah, will soon be authorized to stop and question the immigration status of anyone they believe to be in the country without authorization.

Franklin County Sheriff Cuyler Stoker, with support from the Franklin County Commissioners, signed an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 23 to join the 287(g) program, which allows state and local law enforcement to enforce some federal immigration laws. Under the agreement, Franklin County’s designated deputies will be trained to work as “force multipliers” for ICE, meaning they can stop and question people they believe to be in the country illegally. Officers can also process people for federal immigration violations if they are also arrested on state charges.

Participation in the 287(g) agreements has grown under President Donald Trump, who has encouraged local law enforcement to assist federal agents in his mass deportation efforts. In Idaho, 10 law enforcement agencies have signed agreements, mostly to serve immigration warrants or hold ICE detainees in jail. But Owyhee County and now Franklin County are the only two counties in the state to use the task force model, which is the most involved and controversial due to it allowing local police to stop people to check their immigration status. Idaho State Police have also signed on as an ICE task force, but Idaho Gov. Brad Little says the state police are only transporting undocumented people from local jails and state prisons to ICE facilities. 

Under the new ICE agreement, Stoker said deputies in Franklin County will ask about a person’s immigration status if they question them about a possible crime. 

“If you've done something that's forced one of the deputies to have to look at you, and there's a criminal event that we believe has occurred, we have to identify you,” Stoker said by phone. “If they're not from the United States, we do ask them where they're from, and we ask [for] whatever driver's license or identification cards from whatever home country they're from.”

He said Franklin County deputies are already asking about immigration status if they question a person about crimes. But the 287(g) agreement will also allow deputies to transport undocumented people from their local jail to ICE facilities.

Ruby Mendez-Mota, interim advocacy director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho, said that unless local law enforcement is deputized under 287(g), officers shouldn’t ask about someone’s immigration status before they are arrested because local police don’t enforce immigration law and can’t arrest someone for being in the country unlawfully without authorization. Mendez-Mota said undocumented people who are questioned about their status by local police could feel pressured to provide that information, when they have the right to remain silent. 

“If it's a traffic stop and local law enforcement is asking your immigration status, that is concerning,” Mendez-Mota said, adding that ICE’s training isn’t enough to help local departments understand federal law with respect to undocumented people’s civil liberties.  

According to a study by the American Civil Liberties Union, at least 32% of the country now lives in a county where the sheriff’s office has some form of a 287(g) agreement with ICE. Some state legislatures like Florida and Texas have passed laws that make it mandatory for law enforcement agencies to enter into 287(g) agreements. The program, which started in 1996 under the Immigration and Nationality Act, was halted in 2012 under President Barack Obama, after a federal investigation found deputies had racially profiled Latino residents for immigration enforcement and conducted unlawful searches, detentions and arrests of Latinos.

While more Idaho counties are signing up for the controversial program — two weeks before Franklin County joined, nearby Caribou County signed a deal to serve ICE warrants in its jail — a recent legislative fight shows how sheriffs are bristling at the Trump administration’s push to expand the program’s reach. 

During the Idaho legislative session that wrapped up last week, Republican lawmakers — apparently under pressure from White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller — made three unsuccessful attempts at bills to require that law enforcement enter into 287(g) agreements. After two early drafts failed to advance because of stiff opposition from the Idaho Sheriffs’ Association, House lawmakers made an unusual move and deleted the entire contents of an unrelated bill and amended it to include new language mandating 287(g) participation. That bill passed the House, but the Senate declined to hear it before the end of the session. 

Idaho Sen. Kelly Anthon, R-Rupert, who sponsored one of the last iterations of the mandatory 287(g) agreement bill, said at a March 30 hearing before the Senate State Affairs Committee that the Legislature can’t ensure that law enforcement agencies are cooperating with ICE without the 287(g) agreements. 

“I always want to make sure that we're cooperating (with ICE),” he said. “And that's not to say we're not. It's to say that this proposes to make a general rule that you have to and then to the extent, for whatever reason, if it's going to bankrupt a county or bankrupt a city, then we have some reasonable ways to deal with that.”

Sheriffs from Ada and Canyon counties were among those who opposed the bills, saying they already voluntarily work with ICE by sending it jail rosters so the agency can flag anyone who needs to be held. The Canyon County Sheriff’s Office and police in the cities of Nampa and Caldwell also assisted federal agents during an October FBI raid at a horse racing event that resulted in more than 100 arrests by ICE. 

Ada County Sheriff Matt Clifford said at the hearing that he’s concerned about tying local law enforcement to a federal program that could change every four-year election cycle. He said his deputies already notify federal agents when undocumented people are booked into the jail, but he doesn’t like being "tethered" to an agreement.

Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue was also concerned about the cost of training and salaries for deputies when they are performing immigration-related functions, calling it an “unfunded mandate” for sheriffs. 

“We are already voluntarily working with the federal government, with ICE throughout the state, and have been for many, many, many years,” Donahue said during the March 30 hearing. 

The ACLU of Idaho also opposed the 287(g) bills. Mendez-Mota said the agreements encourage racial profiling of Latinos and undermines public trust in local law enforcement.

In an effort to address financial concerns, the Trump administration in September announced monetary incentives for agencies that sign up for the 287(g) task force model, including reimbursements for the salary and benefits of any officers trained under the program and additional awards for the successful arrest of undocumented people who are turned over to federal agents. It’s not clear how many Idaho agencies have received them.

Stoker, the Franklin County sheriff, hopes to cash in on some of the incentives. He said ICE also has a stipend of up to $100,000 available for vehicles and equipment, as well as up to $7,500 per officer who is trained under the 287(g) agreement on top of their salary reimbursements. The office has 10 deputies, but Stoker was unsure how many would be a part of the program. 

Mendez-Mota said the payments are incentives for law enforcement to sign up for the agreements for now, but are not a guarantee “if there’s a change in administration.”

While Franklin County has not yet signed any financial agreement with ICE, Commissioner Robert Swainston told InvestigateWest that he was happy to support it based on the sheriff's promise that taxpayers wouldn't be on the hook for holding ICE detainees in the local jail. 

To Stoker, the 287(g) agreement represents a “partnership” that the federal government is willing to pay for. 

“The taxpayers of Franklin County are not the ones who are paying for the federal government's work,” Stoker said.

InvestigateWest (investigatewest.org) is an independent news nonprofit dedicated to investigative journalism in the Pacific Northwest. Contact reporter Rachel Spacek, a Report for America corps member, at rachel@investigatewest.org.