Caldwell County Sheriff's Office enters partnership with ICE

Designated local officers from the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office now have the ability to exercise limited immigration enforcement authority during routine police work under the supervision of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The sheriff’s office entered a Task Force Model 287(g) partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Sept. 9.

Maj. Aaron Barlowe at the sheriff’s office said two deputies will receive training under the agreement.

“The agreement is focused on assisting with the enforcement of federal laws,” said Barlowe. “There will be minimal change on the street level and all enforcement efforts will focus on the safety of the citizens of Caldwell County. This agreement will be used as another tool in the toolbox to maintain a safe and secure county.”

The 287(g) program operates under three models: Jail Enforcement, the Warrant Service Officer, and the Task Force.

Since March 2020, Caldwell has worked under a Warrant Service Officer Model, which allows local law enforcement to serve and execute administrative warrants on individuals who are in the sheriff’s custody, according to the ICE website.

The Task Force Model takes it a step further, training local officers on immigration law and allowing them to enforce “limited immigration authority” while performing routine duties.

This means that instead of waiting until an individual is in custody to serve and execute warrants, the Task Force Model permits the sheriff’s office to directly arrest people suspected of being in the country unlawfully, said ICE Public Affairs Officer Lindsay Williams.

“Because they aren’t ICE officers, they have someone to supervise, just to look over the arrests, the stops, the whole process just to make sure they don’t violate any policies,” Williams said, explaining that ICE doesn’t expect an outside agency to know all of the things they do and don’t do.

Williams said that when officers encounter someone during a traffic stop and ask for identification, they can contact an ICE supervisor to check the person against a database if they are handed a foreign ID or if they have probable cause to believe the person may be in the country illegally.

ICE supervisors determine the next steps after checking someone’s immigration status, and individuals who are arrested are eventually transported to temporary holding in Charlotte before they are taken to a long-term detention facility, according to Williams.

The 287(g) program is optional in North Carolina, but there are 30 active 287(g) agreements across the state, according to ICE records. In surrounding counties like Catawba and Avery, the sheriff’s offices participate in the Warrant Service model, while municipalities like Newland and Brookford operate on the Task Force model.

“The officers are doing their normal law enforcement stuff,” Williams said. “Probable cause still is a thing, not just driving while brown or tan or whatever color. Even with us (ICE), we don’t just pull people over because you look a certain way. You have to have some articulable probable cause.”