ICE doesn’t want to simply harm, maim, torture, traumatize, and kill living, breathing human beings; they want the local police’s help in doing so, and they want to ensure that it won’t put a dent in anyone’s pocketbooks.
As if ICE itself weren’t already plenty horrific enough all on its own, a recently published planning document shows that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is proposing a plan to help financially shield any local law enforcement officers who make immigration-related arrests from the financial consequences of their actions, should they be accused of misconduct while on duty.
The agency’s proposition seeks to subsidize liability insurance for both state and local police officers who have been trained and deputized to enforce federal immigration laws on their behalf — because apparently they want to ensure that every officer of the law in this nation is categorically unsafe to anyone who’s not white-passing.
The plan would allow state and local officers to purchase liability insurance with coverage up to $500,000 in personal liability that is typically used to fund legal fees, settlements, and judgments, primarily for civil suits, but it can also be used to cover legal fees in criminal investigations.
The proposal came tucked in a document that informed industry officials that the agency was considering hiring a third-party contractor that would handle outreach, training, and communications support for ICE’s so-called 287(g) partnerships with local law departments, named after a section of an old 1996 immigration law. The contractor would be responsible for hiring the insurance vendor and processing reimbursements to local and state officers, among other duties.
As it stands, a timeline regarding the launch of this project or an estimated cost remains unclear, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement has asked for industry feedback by the end of this week.
ICE partnerships with local law enforcement agencies and their subsequent arrests have seen a significant spike under the Trump Admin
Donald Trump’s return to the White House for his second presidential term brought with it an influx of partnerships between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement departments — which is only expected to increase if this insurance plan sees a victory and local police officers can join up without fear of financial ruin.
Under the purview of the Trump Administration, ICE has dangled massive financial incentives in the faces of local and state law agencies, encouraging them to join forces in their efforts to round up immigrants like stray dogs. Obviously, local agencies are biting quickly, leading to a subsequent further increase in immigration related arrests.
As of now, almost 1,600 local law enforcement agencies across 32 US states have entered into partnerships with ICE, joining their task force model that allows trained local officers to interrogate, arrest, and charge any individuals they suspect of being in the United States of America illegally.
With these partnerships comes generous funding meant to help cover the cost of additional expenses such as officer pay, equipment, and vehicles.
In the first 2 months of 2026 alone, arrests made via these partnerships jumped to an average of 3,000 a month, per the most recent ICE data provided to the University of California, Berkeley’s Deportation Data Project. In 2024, under President Joe Biden, the average number of monthly arrests was 250.
Local law enforcement departments were scared of being held financially accountable
It seems that ICE has come to realize that many of the departments that were still holding back from entering this partnership were doing so out of fear of repercussions they couldn’t afford.
In fact, as partnerships and arrests increased, many of the departments openly expressed concerns that civil liability regarding excessive use of force, wrongful arrest, illegal search and seizures, and other potential misconduct could be an issue. Because, as it turns out, many of the insurance policies that are currently covering these departments’ local work aren’t interested in covering the liabilities that come with being an ICE goon.
Pennsylvania’s risk pool actually recently made it abundantly clear that they would not cover any “proactive immigration enforcement activities,” leaving participating counties to either bow out of the partnership or scramble to find different insurance.
Federal officers have the luxury of extensive legal immunities and a generously funded government defense budget to cover their asses when they face lawsuits. However, those federal protections aren’t guaranteed to extend to local law enforcement.
Cops can’t get enough of the idea.
Former Colorado sheriff who now serves as the executive director of the National Sheriffs’ Association, Justin Smith, couldn’t lap up the bullshit ICE was feeding him fast enough, calling the proposed insurance plan promising and saying he was so, super duper eager to hash out the details with them.
He made sure to really drive home how scary it is to be a law enforcement agent who might actually be held accountable for harming a human being, harping on how much media scrutiny immigration tactics and agents are currently facing and the intense, widespread public protests over their actions.
“Right now, any time you are working on immigration there is going to be a much higher potential for there being problems and having suits and issues,” he whined. “They’re recognizing that it is a different environment. And I think trying to be good partners with us as best they can.”
ICE warns local law enforcement departments that, even with the new plan in place, they would still be responsible for the cost of any incidents that invoke liability. However, their proposed insurance plan would help reduce their risk by basically ensuring that local officers carrying out immigration related actions are “acting under the color of federal authority,” which would serve to protect individual officers from being sued.
The agreement goes on to state that any local officer who does end up on the business end of a civil lawsuit would have the ability to request representation by the United States Department of Justice. It would remain up to the DOJ’s discretion as to whether or not they would do so, but the outlined agreement makes it quite clear that they will.
Because, in America, there’s no one we serve and protect more than the people who refuse to serve and protect the people we hate.
Are we great yet?
Wanting a so called law enforcement agency to have insurance just means that they know they are breaking the law and that they don't care about doing the job they are hired for. I would say anyone who has this type of insurance should probably not be in law enforcement.