Student and Faculty Toolkit: Push Back Against 287(g) Agreements on Campus

Under Trump’s cruel mass deportation agenda, there has been an unprecedented proliferation of 287(g) agreements in Florida. 287(g) agreements, named for a section of the Federal Immigration and Nationality Act, delegate federal authority to local police officers and sheriffs’ deputies for certain immigration enforcement activities. 

In doing so, 287(g) agreements deputize local law enforcement officers to act as federal immigration agents and divert limited resources from traditional law enforcement functions. While Florida counties that manage jails are required to enter into these agreements under Florida law, universities and cities are not—yet many are signing on under false assumptions that this is required. 

The 287(g) program represents a formal partnership between the federal Department of Homeland Security and local law enforcement. It diverts local law enforcement resources to engage in federal immigration enforcement activities with minimal training and oversight. These agreements detrimentally harm campus dynamics by transforming university police from community safety officers into federal immigration enforcement agents. These agreements are not needed for (and do not improve) law enforcement efforts in fighting crime.

The history of 287(g) agreements is a stark reminder of why designating campus officers as ICE agents is bad for public safety. These programs:

• Increase racial profiling
• Decrease crime reporting by eroding trust between communities and law enforcement
• Expose local entities to costly litigation and liability for constitutional violations.
• Create an unnecessary, unwelcoming, and harmful environment for students and faculty on campuses, where community safety, inclusion, and learning should come first. 

Recent trends show an alarming increase in universities hastily entering into these agreements, particularly in states like Florida, where multiple public universities are seeking to have their campus police deputized by ICE despite being considered "sensitive locations" insulated from such enforcement activities for decades. 

When campus police enter into 287(g) agreements, they are vested with the “power and authority to interrogate any alien or person believed to be an alien” and to make warrantless arrests of any such individuals.

If you want to push back on these dangerous agreements on your campus, check out this advocacy toolkit to get your campus movement started.