Case Explained: EXPLAINER: East Texas sheriffs sign ICE agreements, say they’ll make communities safer – Legal Perspective

About 20 East Texas law enforcement agencies have signed agreements in the past months with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement – or ICE.

The Trump administration has launched a nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration in the past year. A new state law that will take effect Jan. 1, Texas Senate Bill 8, requires county sheriffs that operate jails to partner with ICE.

Agreements between local law enforcement and ICE have generated considerable political controversy nationwide. However, three East Texas sheriffs who’ve signed agreements with the federal agency said the agreements do not mean officers are going to raid schools, churches or businesses to arrest people who aren’t in the country legally. Rather, they say those agreements are aimed at removing criminals from the country who shouldn’t be here anyway. 

Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith has previously expressed similar sentiments.

Gregg County Sheriff Maxey Cerliano, Upshur County Sheriff Larry Webb and Rusk County Sheriff Johnwayne Valdez spoke to the newspaper about their agreements with ICE and what they allow local law enforcement to do and not do. 

What is 287(g)?

The 287(g) program gives local law enforcement agencies the power to enforce certain parts of U.S. immigration law. The program has been in effect since 1996 as part of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Police departments, sheriff’s offices and other agencies can partner with ICE in three ways: the jail enforcement model, the warrant service officer program and the task force model.

Under the jail enforcement model, local law enforcement can be trained to “identify and process removable aliens” who are in jail and who have “pending or active criminal charges” while in custody, according to ICE.

Under the warrant service officer program, local law enforcement can be trained to serve and execute immigration-related warrants, which can be used to arrest people who are deemed removable from the country and are already in police custody. 

Under the task force model, local law enforcement can enforce limited immigration laws while performing routine police duties and participate in ICE-led task forces. Trained local law enforcement can question people about their citizenship status during police encounters, and they can arrest people for immigration violations. 

“With a 287(g) partnership, state and local law enforcement agencies and ICE work together to deport removable aliens involved in gang activity, violent crimes, human smuggling, organized crime, sex offenses, drug smuggling, money laundering and many other crimes,” according to ICE. “This expanded cooperation keeps our communities safer for our families, friends and loved ones.”

Gregg County Sheriff’s Office

The Gregg County Sheriff’s Office signed an ICE agreement in March to participate in the jail enforcement model.

Cerliano said the agreement didn’t change the way the sheriff’s office has operated for the past 25 years other than making its relationship with ICE more efficient by giving detention officers more training and resources. The sheriff’s office has worked with ICE for years regarding immigration detainers for people here illegally who are arrested for other crimes. 

“We’ve always had a good working relationship with our federal partners,” Cerliano said. “I think that’s important for the community to know that law enforcement as a whole, at least in East Texas, has that working relationship.”

Under the jail enforcement model, detention officers can question people in custody about their citizenship status and process them for immigration violations if they have been arrested for other offenses, according to a draft agreement available on the federal agency’s website. 

Detention officers can serve arrest warrants for immigration violations to people who are already in custody for criminal charges. They can also serve warrants of removal to people who are already in custody for criminal charges; those warrants transfer a person to ICE’s custody for removal. Both types of warrants are served when people are scheduled to be released from custody for the criminal offenses that led to their arrest. 

Detention officers can issue immigration detainers, which hold people in custody for up to 48 hours until they can be picked up by ICE. People who are not picked up by ICE within 48 hours must be released from jail.

The total Gregg County Jail inmate population averages roughly 640 people per day during the holiday season, which is slightly lower than at other times of the year and is a normal trend, Cerliano said.

“Everybody wants their family home for Christmas,” he said.

On average, the jail has 20 or 30 people in custody per day who are subject to immigration detainers. 

Gregg County’s jail enforcement agreement does not permit deputies or detention officers to work with ICE during raids or partake in other enforcement activities. Cerliano said the focus of the office’s agreement with ICE – and the goal of ICE officers, as he has seen – is to remove people from the country who are committing crimes. 

“To my knowledge, there has been no field enforcement at any location such as a school, a church, even a business, anything like that,” he said. “Our experience with ICE has been that they are targeting individuals that have criminal records or individuals that have been booked into the jail, and that’s what they’ve been doing here locally.”

About 15 sheriff’s office employees have been trained to participate in the program, Cerliano said. 

“The relationship between us and immigration appears to be working extremely well,” he said. 

Upshur County Sheriff’s Office

Upshur County officially partnered with ICE through the task force model, the most comprehensive agreement, on Dec. 8. Participating law enforcement agencies have the same abilities as agencies with jail enforcement or warrant service officer models but also have expanded arrest powers outside of their jails.

However, the only people who could be affected by the agreement are those whom law enforcement officers encounter while performing their routine duties, Webb said.

“We’re going to come into contact with these people normally … through violations of the law,” he said. “We’re not going to go out kicking in doors.” 

He added: “We’re not going to go to schools and churches and start walking up and asking people for their papers.”

The task force model gives the sheriff’s office “limited authority” to identify people in the country illegally whom deputies come into contact with during routine police work. Deputies then contact ICE officials to see if they want those people to be placed under ICE custody, Webb said. 

Participating, trained deputies can arrest “any alien” without a warrant if the officer believes the person is in the country illegally and is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained, according to an Upshur County Sheriff’s Office statement. Deputies must take the person to be examined by an immigration officer to determine his or her ability to be in the country. 

Deputies can arrest people for immigration-related felonies, such as reentering the country after being previously deported, and can arrest people for other immigration violations with a warrant.

Deputies participating in the task force model must complete 40 hours of training, Webb said. That training teaches local law enforcement about people’s civil rights, officers’ use of authority, use of force and other key policies.

Deputies can perform immigration-related work only under ICE supervision, making them more of a “force multiplier,” Webb said. 

ICE agreements make the community safer by enhancing the sheriff’s office’s ability to identify people who are here illegally and are committing crimes, paving the way for them to be removed from the country, Webb said. 

“Basically, if you don’t want to come into contact with us, obey the law,” he said. 

Will offenses such as driving without a license get someone deported? 

“Don’t know,” Webb said. “It might or might not.” That’s up to ICE officials.

“But I’m not going to sit here and tell folks to violate the law and we’re not going to have any repercussions or consequences,” Webb said. 

“If you talk to normal citizens around here, people understand why folks want to come here,” he said. “They want to prosper. They want a better life for their family. Some are even leaving their country because of persecution for religion, political issues or whatever it is. But we also have to understand that there’s a process for that.”

People who are here illegally have come from numerous countries, not solely those of Hispanic origin, Webb said. Racial profiling is “not going to happen,” and he points to his office’s required annual racial profiling report as evidence of that. 

“Go and pull those and actually see if there is any racial profiling going on with the agency,” he said.

Webb noted that the 287(g) program has been in effect since 1996. He said people and media outlets have spread unfounded fears about the program. 

Ultimately, people who choose to come to the country legally and obey its laws have nothing to worry about, Webb said. 

Rusk County Sheriff’s Office

The office has partnered with ICE through the warrant service officer’s model and the task force model. The warrant service agreement went into effect March 5, and the task force model went into effect Aug. 28.

The warrant service officer model is similar to the jail enforcement model. Rusk County Sheriff Johnwayne Valdez said that model gives law enforcement officers the opportunity to “fasttrack” people who are arrested for crimes and request immigration detainers if needed. 

As for the task force model, people aren’t going to be arrested for the civil aspect of immigration violations, Valdez said.

“We’re only doing the criminal aspect of it,” he said.  “We’re not going to houses of worship. We’re not going to schools. We’re not going to places of employment specifically looking for people that are not American citizens. That’s not our job. That’s (ICE’s) job.”

Valdez said his office is complying with the soon-to-be state law requiring sheriff’s offices to make agreements with ICE. The abilities afforded by those agreements will make Rusk County safer.

“If there’s convicted felons living here or people that we pick up for felony offenses that are not here legally, then that deportation is gonna make this county a safer place to live,” he said. “No different than picking up an American citizen and putting them in the penitentiary. It’s about the safety of our citizens.”

Roughly 16 sheriff’s office staffers, including detention officers and deputies, have been or will be trained to participate in the program, Valdez said. 

Who has agreements?

The following lists East Texas law enforcement agencies, by county, that have agreements with ICE as of Dec. 12.

Bowie: Bowie County Sheriff’s Office, Warrant Service Officer, 10/17/25

Lamar: Lamar County Sheriff’s Office, Warrant Service Officer, 10/17/25;

Paris Police Department, Task Force Model, 11/6/25

Hopkins: Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office, Warrant Service Officer, 10/17/25;

Cumby Police Department, Task Force Model, 12/12/2025

Franklin: Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Jail Enforcement Model, 5/20/25

Titus: Titus County Sheriff’s Office, Warrant Service Officer and Task Force Model, 3/10/25

Morris: Morris County Sheriff’s Office, Jail Enforcement Model, 8/28/25, and Task Force Model, 12/2/25

Marion: Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Task Force Model, 12/11/25; Jefferson Police Department, Task Force Model, 12/15/25

Upshur: Big Sandy Police Department, Task Force Model, 11/6/25; Upshur County Sheriff’s Office, Task Force Model, 12/8/25

Smith: Smith County Constable Pct. 4, Task Force Model, 11/19/25; Smith County Sheriff’s Office, Jail Enforcement Model, 6/9/20, and Task Force Model, 2/18/25; Arp Police Department, Task Force Model, 11/14/25; Bullard Police Department, Task Force Model, 12/9/25

Gregg: Gregg County Sheriff’s Office, Jail Enforcement Model, 3/17/25

Harrison: Harrison County Sheriff’s Office, Warrant Service Officer, 2/24/25

Panola: Panola County Sheriff’s Office, Warrant Service Officer, 3/26/25 and Task Force Model, 4/2/25

Rusk: Rusk County Sheriff’s Office, Warrant Service Officer, 3/5/25, and Task Force Model, 8/28/25