Routine traffic stops can lead to deportation for undocumented immigrants under the section 287(g) agreements that local law enforcement agencies are striking with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). These agreements come in several forms, but the most common is the Task Force Agreement, which trains local officers to perform ICE agent duties while retaining their role as regular law enforcement.
Eleanor Nash, a reporter for the Kansas City Star, found that 76 law enforcement agencies across Missouri and Kansas have entered into this type of agreement with ICE. In exchange for expanding the reach of immigration enforcement activity, some agencies have been promised up to $100,000 for vehicle purchases and about $6,500 per trained officer for equipment costs, according to Nash.
“This created a pathway to deportation so kind of funneling people in from people who get stopped because of driving too slow, having an out tail light or right even drunk driving,” Nash told KCUR’s Up to Date. “Usually that wouldn't cause someone to be deported.”
Some local agencies have still chosen not to partner with ICE. Nash said The Olathe Police Department, the Lawrence Police Department and the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department have not signed on with ICE because of concerns it could damage trust with their communities and stretch resources thin.
- Eleanor Nash, reporter for The Kansas City Star
