Palmyra Police explain financial & safety reasons for pursuing partnership with ICE

PALMYRA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A small-town police department is generating a lot of conversation for pursuing a formal partnership with the federal department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce immigration issues.

The Palmyra police chief says funding the program would provide could save the department, but critics worry about overreach and predatory policing.

Interim Palmyra Police Chief Paul Blount told us, "I just want our community to know that it really isn't different from what we have been doing."

But by partnering with ICE, Blount says the department can receive money that could ultimately keep it afloat.

The program is called 287(g). It allows local law enforcement to carry out immigration operations under ICE oversight.

Currently, more than 1,000 departments across the country are taking part in one of three programs, including 13 sheriff's offices in Wisconsin.

But Palmyra is the first municipal police department in the state to apply.

Blount said the first draw was safety, but another element of the 287(g) program caught his eye. "We're strapped for cash," he said. "We are certainly struggling to provide essential services."

If an officer makes one arrest of an undocumented immigrant, ICE will fund one officer position for a year, plus 25% of overtime costs.

Blount calculates that could be $100,000. He said, "$100k may be the difference in this next year of having officers on the street during the daytime and nighttime."

Each subsequent arrest would earn $5,000-$7,500.

Blount said that in a recent Zoom meeting, ICE told him and hundreds of other chiefs and sheriffs that when an arrest was made on a Friday, the money was deposited the following Monday.

Blount said amid conversations of potentially having to shut down the Palmyra department, it would be fiscally irresponsible not to pursue it.

There is plenty of support in Palmyra, but also a lot of concerns, which Blount said he expected and respects.

The ACLU of Wisconsin decried the agreement, saying it "gives officers the green light to stop people they think might be immigrants on the street, question them about their citizenship status, and even take them into custody."

The chief says he understands the concern from inside the community and out. But he's insistent the work he and his officers would do under this agreement is no different than what they're already doing.

With one patrol officer on duty each day, no overnight staffing, and 1 million cars traveling through town on State Route 59 every year, Palmyra already works with and relies on federal partners.

Blount said, "We're already collaborating with our federal partners. The financial piece of it just seemed like a win-win for the community."

Officers are required to undergo a minimum of 40 hours of training to participate.

Blount said traffic enforcement is their biggest issue, with drug busts and human trafficking of particular concern.

And he maintains his department will only act on criminal activity. "I can commit to the community right now, as we sit here, that I will not be participating in any door-to-door door knocking to verify someone's paperwork for their legal status."

He also said the department would not participate in any quotas.

Blount plans to write a policy preventing door knocks and racial profiling. He added if ICE nullified an agreement because of those policies, he'd be prepared for it.

While ICE has approved the agreement, the Palmyra village board has not yet.

They'll hold community meetings first, and Blount said if the board is against it, he'll abide.