287(g) Steering Committee Meeting
The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office will hold its annual 287(g) Steering Committee meeting on June 14, 2017, at 7:00 p.m. The meeting will be held in the First Floor Hearing Room of Winchester Hall which is located at 12 East Church Street, Frederick, Maryland, 21701. The committee will discuss the current mission and vision of the 287(g) program as well as present relevant data from the program.
The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 added Section 287(g), performance of immigration officer functions by state officers and employees, to the Immigration and Nationality Act. This authorizes the Director of ICE to enter into agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies, permitting designated officers to perform immigration law enforcement functions, provided that the local law enforcement officers receive appropriate training and function under the supervision of ICE officers.
The Memorandum of Agreement between ICE and local law enforcement defines the scope and limitations of the delegation of authority. It also establishes the supervisory structure for the designated immigration officers working under the cross-designation and prescribes the agreed upon complaint process governing officer conduct during the life of the MOA. Under the statute, ICE will supervise all cross-designated officers when they exercise their immigration authorities. The agreement must be signed by the Executive Associate Director for Enforcement and Removal Operations, and the governor, a senior political entity or the head of the local agency before trained local designated immigration officers are authorized to enforce immigration law.
The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office entered into a partnership with the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs office shortly after Sheriff Chuck Jenkins took office in 2008.
The partnership includes training personnel from both the Detention Center and Law Enforcement Operations to become authorized to identify and begin deportation proceedings against illegal aliens committing crimes within Frederick County. Twenty six Sheriff’s Office members, consisting of sixteen correctional officers and ten law enforcement deputies, completed training in 2008.
The Sheriff’s Office is one of only six Sheriff’s Offices nationwide that participate in both the jail enforcement program and the law enforcement task force program.
The program officially started on August 1, 2008. The current Memorandum of Agreement between ICE and the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office was signed in August 2016 and expires in 2019. A copy can be read at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s web site.
The upcoming meeting will be open to the public and anyone wishing to speak may do so by contacting the 287(g) Program Manager, Tom McCabe at
