Denton County sheriff partners with ICE, allowing deputies perform immigration officer duties

Denton County sheriff's office partners with ICE for immigration control

Denton County has become one of a number of counties in Texas to partner with ICE. FOX 4's Steven Dial has more.

DENTON, Texas - The Denton County sheriff's office is partnering with ICE as part of a program that will let deputies perform some immigration enforcement officer duties.

What we know:

Denton County is the first in North Texas to adopt the "task force model". Among other things, it would allow select deputies to arrest people they believe are in the country illegally.

"When our officers start handling some of these cases, they begin to be paid by the federal government and so there's a lot of things to work out with that," Denton County sheriff Tracy Murphree said. "But ICE is going to handle all the expense of training. Processing and those things."

The approval in Denton County comes on the same week the acting state comptroller announced a grant program to help with costs for counties.

"The state now is assisting in that from a financial means and assisting based on the size of the county when the counties request it," Kelly Hancock, the acting Texas comptroller, said.

Dig deeper:

Depending on size, counties can receive between $80 and $140 thousand dollars in grant money to pay for things like training and equipment.

 "We're always struggling with funds, positions, and so forth like that. So, this is going to be a welcome dollar amount that will assist us in taking care of some of that," said Tarrant County sheriff Bill Waybourn.

A recent Texas law requires all sheriffs to enter some type of agreement with ICE by the end of this year.

So far, more than 150 of the state's 254 counties are taking part in the 287(g) program — including Tarrant County.

"We conduct the 287(g)program inside the jail. There's other 287(g) programs that we could expand to," Waybourn said.

Local perspective:

Immigration activists have raised concerns that agreements like this could reduce trust between immigrant communities and law enforcement.

One Denton County commissioner said everyone wants their communities to be safe, but is concerned about local law enforcement working on behalf of federal officials. 

 "I don't think anybody had any problem with following the law. No, that's right," said Bobbie J. Mitchell, commissioner of Denton precinct 3. "It's just how it's done, but those cities have a right to decide whether they want to be a part of the 287(g) agreement."

What's next:

Collin County's jail enforcement agreement with ICE is currently listed as pending.

The Dallas County sheriff's department is not currently participating in the program.

State law requires some sort of agreement to be approved by December 1.