Greg Casar

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Two prominent Texas Democrats, Congressmen Joaquin Castro (D-TX) and Greg Casar (D-TX), urged six Bexar County cities to end their 287(g) agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The agreements, a requirement for participation under Texas law, allow state and local police officers to carry out certain immigration enforcement activities delegated to them under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

The pair of lawmakers hosted a press conference in San Antonio on Wednesday, where Castro said the agreements have resulted in racial profiling in Bexar County and across the country, turning hometown police into armed federal immigration enforcement officers.

The six municipalities surrounding San Antonio that have entered into the 287(g) agreements include Hollywood Park, China Grove, St. Hedwig, Balcones Heights, Sandy Oaks, and Von Ormy. The cities have entered the Task Force model, one of three types of agreements under the provision found in current immigration law.

The Task Force model allows for police officers, who must undergo training, to question people they contact during routine patrol duties about their citizenship status. The authority granted by 287(g) also allows officers access to ICE databases and the authority to arrest suspects they believe are in the United States illegally.

Castro told attendees at the press conference that he believes the municipalities are entering into the agreements for financial reasons, as they are compensated for assisting ICE under their terms. “I believe a big part of the reason they are doing it is they are trying to balance their budgets with this money, because they receive money for every officer that is trained to carry out this partnership with ICE,” Castro added.

Texas law requires any law enforcement entity in the state that operates a jail to participate in 287(g).

Castro, a staunch opponent of ICE, pulled no punches in his criticism of the agency, saying, “Bear in mind that ICE has become a rogue, abusive organization under Donald Trump. We’ve seen their brutality on the streets, but I’ve seen their brutality, as has Greg, behind the closed doors in places like the Dilley trailer prison.”

Castro has been critical of the Trump administration’s reopening of the South Texas Family Residential Center that is used to house families awaiting removal from the United States. Castro has visited the facility on at least seven occasions since the reopening. Castro has called for the facility to be shut down, alleging medical neglect and substandard food being served at the detention center.

Casar echoed the remarks of Castro, saying, “Our ask today is simple: mayors across Bexar County need to stop signing up their police to do Donald Trump’s ICE enforcement. We’re here to tell them, get out, cut it out, we do not need our communities selling out.”

Although Casar referred to the agreements between the municipalities as doing President Trump’s ICE enforcement, the legislation that contained the 287(g) provision was part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), which was passed as part of an appropriations act signed by President Bill Clinton.

The spending bill signed by President Clinton, the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act, 1997, contained provisions not only delegating immigration authority to state and local police under section 287(g) but also granting the federal government the authority to waive environmental provisions to ensure “expeditious construction” of border barriers.

Clinton commented on the intent of the legislation at the time, saying, “This bill, however, does more than fund major portions of the Government for the next fiscal year. It also includes landmark immigration reform legislation that builds on our progress of the last 3 years. It strengthens the rule of law by cracking down on illegal immigration at the border, in the workplace, and in the criminal justice system—without punishing those living in the United States legally.”

Castro did not specify what, if any, legislation he has introduced to address the nation’s immigration crisis.