Putnam County Sheriff Eddie Farris on Tuesday claimed reports indicating the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) entered into a full 287(g) agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were misreported by Tennessee media outlets, telling the Herald-Citizen that his agency is only working with federal immigration officials to screen inmates after their arrest.
While agreements between ICE and local law enforcement agencies allow police and sheriff’s deputies to perform a wide range of immigration enforcement actions with federal oversight, Farris told the outlet that the agreement between PCSO and ICE only involves additional screening capabilities for arrested suspects.
“We did sign up for the 287(g) program, but the model we are signing up for is the jail model, which means that we don’t go out and try to locate illegals,” said the sheriff, according to the outlet.
He explained that the agreement will give PCSO, “the means and the computer systems and ICE authority to then check to see if they’re illegal and wanted in our country or anywhere else.”
However, information made public by ICE currently lists PCSO as part of its Jail Enforcement Model and its Task Force Model, with the sheriff’s office adopting the former on February 24 and the latter on June 24.
A memorandum of understanding between ICE and PCSO for the February 24 agreement, posted publicly by ICE after it was written earlier this year, confirms the federal agency will install various information technology (IT) infrastructure as part of their agreement, which stipulates, “ICE is responsible for the installation and maintenance of the Information Technology (IT) infrastructure,” as well as “instructors and training material.”
The memo shows that PCSO will be responsible for covering all expenses related to personnel, supplies, and federally mandated training for the 287(g) program.
The clarification by Farris notably comes just days after a law went into effect authorizing $5 million in state grant funding for local law enforcement, with the sole stipulation included within the law being a requirement for agencies to “have a valid, executed agreement” related to the 287(g) program.
State Representative Lee Reeves (R-Franklin) recently noted that law enforcement agencies in just eight of the 95 counties in Tennessee had executed such an agreement as of early June.
That may be changing, as Farris reportedly told the Herald-Citizen that “a whole host of counties” were in line to finalize their own agreements, and Reeves recently revealed the number of Tennessee counties with 287(g) agreements rose to 15.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
THATS DISAPPOINTING.
One wonders why?