Palmyra Police Department applies for designation to help ICE with immigration violations

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The Village of Palmyras Police Department will now help the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) with immigration investigations. The department applied for a Task Force Model. It’s the first police department in the state to apply for that designation.

The task force model under Section 287(g) of the United States Immigration and Nationality Act has been discontinued previously, but under the second Trump administration, it’s made a return.

“Basically deputizes state or local law enforcement to act as ICE officers,” said Jacob Hamburger, an assistant professor of law with Marquette University Law School.

It allows local law enforcement officers to interrogate and even arrest individuals they believe may be breaking immigration policies.

“So that’s much more extensive than the other forms of 287(g) which might only for example allow local police or officers to screen someone who might already be in their custody for immigration violations,” said Hamburger.

Under ICE’s website, there’s a list of agencies that have applied for the task force model. The Village of Palmyra Police Department is listed there.

“So we could see police in Palmyra beginning training with ICE potentially any time,” said Hamburger.

Hamburger says officers must have some reasonable suspicion to detain someone or make a stop.

“The concern that's been raised in many of these lawsuits has been that essentially what immigration enforcement officers are doing is racial profiling. They’re looking at some type of sign of someone’s ethnic origin or the language they might speak or the accent they might have,” said Hamburger.

CBS 58 reached out to the Palmyra Police Department and was told they have no comment.

Hamburger says while the police department may be assisting ICE, Hamburger has questions about federal compensation officers may receive for helping them.

“I do think that any jurisdiction like Palmyra that’s considering these is going to have to make some type of choice about how much they want to prioritize using their own resources to enforce federal immigration law,” said Hamburger.

As of right now, the Palmyra Police Department’s status as part of the task force model is listed as participating on ICE’s website. Hamburger says how this will impact local policing in their own community remains to be seen.

“What impact does this on local residents willingness to come out and speak out as witnesses to crimes?” said Hamburger.