Limit 02 of nine · Contracts
No deputized local police
2,127 deputization deals — about 33% of Americans now live in a 287(g) county.
The problem
287(g) lets DHS deputize local police as federal civil enforcement agents. An executive order ordered maximum expansion, and signed agreements grew roughly fifteenfold to 2,127 — including the street-level model a federal court tied to systemic race-based policing in Melendres v. Arpaio. With federal audits paused, a state contract ban is the only durable off-switch; where no statute exists, courts have let the deals stand.
What the law does
Bars state and local agencies from entering, renewing, or maintaining any 287(g) agreement.
Where it stands
- Alaska: None
- Alabama: None
- Arkansas: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Arizona: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- California: Full
- Colorado: Partial
- Connecticut: Partial
- District of Columbia: Partial
- Delaware: Full
- Florida: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Georgia: None
- Hawaii: None
- Iowa: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Idaho: None
- Illinois: Full
- Indiana: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Kansas: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Kentucky: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Louisiana: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Massachusetts: None
- Maryland: Full
- Maine: None
- Michigan: None
- Minnesota: None
- Missouri: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Mississippi: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Montana: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- North Carolina: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- North Dakota: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Nebraska: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- New Hampshire: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- New Jersey: Full
- New Mexico: Full
- Nevada: None
- New York: Full
- Ohio: None
- Oklahoma: None
- Oregon: Full
- Pennsylvania: None
- Rhode Island: None
- South Carolina: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- South Dakota: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Tennessee: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Texas: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Utah: None
- Virginia: Partial
- Vermont: Partial
- Washington: Full
- Wisconsin: None
- West Virginia: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Wyoming: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Puerto Rico: None
Methodology v3.4 · scored Jun 10 2026
The model language
Read the full model bill →“No state or local agency shall enter into, modify, extend, renew, or maintain any agreement authorized under section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. § 1357(g)), including but not limited to Jail Enforcement Model (JEM), Warrant Service Officer (WSO), or Task Force Model (TFM) agreements.”
What we propose
Prohibit any state or local agency from entering, extending, or maintaining a 287(g) agreement of any kind, terminate existing ones within 180 days, and void those that don’t comply. Model: California Gov. Code §7284.9; Maryland HB 444 (2026).
Who’s already done it
13 states + D.C.; 9 at full strength — CA, DE, IL, MD, NJ, NM, NY, OR, WA. California’s §7284.9 is the upheld model; Maryland’s HB 444 (2026) is the cleanest 180-day wind-down.
On the record
- ICE 287(g) roster — 2,127 MOAs (JEM 178 / TFM 1,373 / WSO 519), Jul 14 2026
- Executive Order 14159 §11 (Jan 20 2025)
- Melendres v. Arpaio (D. Ariz., 2013) — race-based policing under a task-force agency
Status: surging and largely unchecked federally; a statutory ban holds where enacted, fails where absent.
One of nine.
Not the whole fight.
See where your state stands on all nine limits, or read the model bill section that closes this one.
Check your state → ← Back to the Nine