Every Tennessee sheriff required to work with ICE in legislation headed to the governor’s desk

All 95 Tennessee county sheriffs will be required to enter cooperative agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in legislation headed to Gov. Bill Lee’s desk after a final Senate vote on Thursday. 

The legislation requires sheriffs to enter the so-called 287(g) agreements with the federal government or risk losing state funding. 

If signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee, the legislation gives sheriffs a Jan. 1, 2027 deadline to comply. Local police forces are not covered by the legislation and would retain autonomy over the decision to enter the agreements. The Lookout is seeking comment from Lee’s office about whether the governor intends to sign the legislation.

As part of its crackdown on illegal immigration, the Trump administration has made a push for local law enforcement nationwide to enter the voluntary agreements to serve as “force-multipliers” in arresting and detaining individuals without legal status. 

Tennessee partnerships with ICE multiply as feds offer $14B in incentives nationwide

As of Thursday, 49 county sheriffs — just over half of all sheriffs in Tennessee —  had entered into an agreement with ICE, according to a federal database. Separately, several Tennessee police departments and constables have also entered into the agreements.

Of the Tennessee sheriffs that have entered into these agreements, most have opted to partner with the federal government on so-called “jail model” and “warrant model” 287(g) agreements, allowing deputies to verify immigration status of jail inmates or serve warrants provided by ICE. 

A separate “task force model” gives law enforcement officers similar power to ICE agents to enforce U.S. immigration laws. The Tennessee legislation does not mandate which type of agreement sheriffs are required to enter.

On the Senate floor Thursday, Democrat Sen. Jeff Yarbro of Nashville attempted unsuccessfully to amend the legislation to include state funding to cover added costs for sheriffs who take on additional immigration enforcement responsibilities. 

Dozens of Tennessee sheriffs have opted not to participate in the program, Yarbro noted. Yarbro suggested many sheriffs have declined to participate in the 287(g) program due to “unavoidable expenses” participation brings.

Tennessee House advances bill requiring sheriffs to cooperate with ICE

“This is fundamentally an unfunded mandate,” Yarbro said, noting such mandates are barred by the Tennessee Constitution. Yarbro and other members of the Democrat minority opposed the legislation in its entirety.

“We are requiring all of our counties to comply with something that is a costly endeavor every year going forward and we have made no commitment to actually be part of that annual funding that was required to take on the expense in the years ahead,” Yarbro said. 

But Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, a Williamson County Republican who sponsored the measure, dismissed those concerns. 

The federal government has offered certain financial incentives to departments that join the program, he said. And a separate $5 million state-funded incentive fund, created by lawmakers last year, is available for start-up costs, he said. 

The program has thus far distributed $160,000 to sheriffs’ departments, leaving more than $4.8 million left to distribute to sheriffs who would be required to participate, Johnson said. 

Johnson said he believes so little of the state funding has been requested thus far because sheriffs have been able to secure federal funding for their 287(g) participation.

“During this very unprecedented time we’re in where we have an occupant in the White House who is actually doing something about this scourge of illegal immigration and securing the border and so forth (the legislation is) focusing particularly on those individuals who are not only in the country illegally but have committed crimes,” he said.