Taylor Police Department enters ICE agreement

Taylor police enters agreement with ICE

Taylor Police are the second agency in the state to enter into an agreement. It’s called the "287 Program," and Taylor Police Chief John Blair said read the fine print.

TAYLOR, Mich. (FOX 2) - Some Metro Detroit police agencies are signing on with ICE as a new program resurfaces in what police agencies have been allowed to do since the 1990s: ask about immigration status.

What they're saying:

Taylor Police are the second agency in the state to enter into an agreement. It’s called the "287 Program," and Taylor Police Chief John Blair said read the fine print.

"We are not knocking on doors, we are not kicking in doors, we are not going to schools, we are not going to workplaces and hunting down people and checking their status," said Blair. "There’s no difference, literally there is no change in policy, there is no change in any type of procedures."

Like thousands of agencies around the country, Immigration and Customs Enforcement contacted Blair this spring, proposing an agreement called the "287 Program."

It gives ICE the authority to delegate some of their powers to local agencies, like questioning people about their immigration status, likely during the booking process of an accused criminal.

Dig deeper:

It’s an extension of an immigration act passed by Congress in 1996 and signed by then-President Bill Clinton.

"They are simply asking us to do the most basic thing: that when we come across somebody who’s in this country illegally after they have committed some sort of criminal offense, we notify them," said Blair.

Prosecutors in Detroit say they’ve charged 124 people with immigration-related crimes since the start of the year—that’s more than they brought in the past two years combined.

The "287 Program" comes in tandem with executive orders signed by President Trump that promise to go after local agencies that hinder the federal efforts to deport criminals here in the U.S. illegally.

"None of our officers are going to be going to jail for subverting the efforts of the federal government and enforcing illegal immigration," said Blair. "I’m not going to jail for violating the law. I’m sorry, it’s not going to happen. I think that’s common sense."

What's next:

As of May 2, there are 517 agencies nationwide that have signed on, in 39 states. That list continues to grow.