Amongst a wave of stories just like it, a Miami Herald article warns that a sheriff department’s decision to sign a 287(g) partnership agreement with ICE will “erode trust in cops.” In truth, the 287(g) partnership model has operated for nearly three decades, removing violent felons, winning broad public approval, and giving local sheriffs a federal back‑up that protects law-abiding non-citizens and citizens alike.
The article portrays a handful of protestors as the authentic voice of “the community,” insisting that any cooperation with ICE will terrorize neighborhoods. No data are offered, and no crime victims are consulted. Instead, the report leans on slogans, “abolish ICE,” “keep families together”, while ignoring the families shattered by repeat offenders who cycle in and out of jail in areas where local officers lack immigration authority.
Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act allows DHS to deputize local officers, at federal expense, to identify and detain criminal aliens in local custody. Results speak louder than rhetoric: Nationwide, ICE’s FY 2024 report records 81,312 arrests of criminals, with over 500,000 combined charges, thanks in part to local partnerships. That is trust earned with deeds.
Trust does not spring from ignoring the law; it is built when honest people see predators carried away in handcuffs.
Yes, some undocumented residents fear any contact with police. But public policy in a functioning republic is shaped by the rule of law, not the anxieties of those who violated it. In some blue cities, via their allies in local government, car‑thieves write the police policies for traffic stops, and rioters write the police policies for riot response. In most of the United States, however, crime prevention through effective law enforcement builds trust between the law-abiding public and police.
The Herald’s article is the latest chapter in a tired narrative that conflates what is good for lawbreakers with what is good for the law-abiding. America has always asked immigrants to play by the rules. The 287(g) program merely ensures that those who refuse do not receive a revolving door back into our neighborhoods.
The Miami Herald is right insofar as cooperation with ICE erodes the trust lawbreakers have in police to not enforce the law. But if the Miami Herald truly values “trust,” it should start by trusting the facts and the citizens, who believe, by large margins, that local law enforcement and ICE working together make their streets safer. Let the protesters raise their placards; the silent majority has raised its hand for order. The law-abiding deserve nothing less.
And the law‑breakers forfeited the right for their concerns to dictate terms.