Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office joins program to strengthen cooperation with ICE
The Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office joined the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program to expand cooperation between the two agencies.
ICE’s 287(g) Program authorizes the federal agency to delegate state and local law enforcement officers to perform specified immigration officer functions under oversight, according to ICE’s website.
MCSO signed an agreement to enter the program under the Task Force model on July 7, according to ICE’s list of participating agencies that was last updated on July 10.
“The Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office being part of the 287(g) program does not change the way that we work,” Muscogee County Sheriff Greg Countryman told the Ledger-Enquirer. “It will not look any different than what we have been doing in the past.”
Over the past two years, the sheriff’s office has run into “members of dangerous cartels,” Countryman said. Being part of the program grants them the authority to handle undocumented individuals they encounter during these operations, he said.
“It’s not us going out and looking for illegal immigrants and things of that sort,” Countryman said. “We’re not going out and knocking on doors. Nothing will change other than it gives us the authority when we come in contact with those types of individuals to handle those at our level.”
The sheriff’s office needs to be able to deal with this on the local level without having to “pick up the phone,” Countryman said.
“We have worked with ICE before,” he said. “We have never had any issues here. They’ve always been very, very professional. This doesn’t change anything.”
There are different models agencies can operate under in the 287(g) program: Jail Enforcement, Task Force and Warrant Service Officer.
Under the Task Force Model, which is what the MCSO has agreed to, it allows designated immigration officers to enforce limited immigration authority while performing routine police duties or as an active participant in an ICE-led task force.
“We have investigators who are already on federal task forces,” Countryman said. “We have the FBI and the DEA. Those are all task force officers.”
The Sheriff’s Office works closely with the attorney general’s office and Fort Benning as well, he said.
“The only thing that means is that we will have a task force officer program, just like we have with the FBI and the DEA,” Countryman said.
The Memorandum of Agreement between ICE and the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office is not yet available on ICE’s website. The Ledger-Enquirer has requested a copy of the MOA.
Between April 1 and June 30, the MCSO had five inmates with ICE holds, according to the MCSO website. There were 2,104 inmates booked in total, according to the data, and 17 were foreign nationals.
More and more agencies are taking part in the 287(g) program, Countryman said, including the Georgia State Patrol. This is needed as long as drugs are being moved through different counties, he said.
“We’re not going out looking for anyone,” Countryman said. “It’s just when we come into contact, we have that authority. It’s that simple.”
ICE has been under nationwide scrutiny after immigration crackdowns in states like Minnesota, fatal shootings and allegations of mistreatment of detained immigrants, including those detained in Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin.
