FWD.us: ICE Deputized Officers Now Outnumber Federal Agents

The number of state and local officers empowered to enforce federal immigration laws has doubled in just eight months. A report released by the advocacy group FWD.us on Tuesday shows that Immigration and Customs Enforcement deputized more than 29,000 officers between January 2025 and October 2026.

This figure exceeds the 11,600 deportation officers the agency employs directly. The data comes from an examination of Section 287(g), a federal program that allows state and local police to conduct immigration enforcement. FWD.us derived the numbers from agency public records and data requested by the Deportation Data Project, a research initiative based at UC Berkeley and UCLA.

Felicity Rose, vice president of research and policy at FWD.us, stated that these partnerships are central to current enforcement efforts. She noted that the program, which dates to the 1990s, saw little use until the current administration took office. Rose described the deputized officers as a key lever in a quieter approach to enforcement, one that relies on routine highway stops rather than the large urban operations seen in cities like Chicago and Minneapolis.

The most aggressive version of the program, known as the Task Force Model, grants police and sheriff's departments the power to make immigration arrests. Agencies that maintain active participation in enforcement activity receive funds for new vehicles and equipment. The Department of Homeland Security has previously described the program as a critical tool for reducing crime and illegal immigration.

Florida and Texas accounted for about half of the more than 47,000 immigration arrests made through the program nationally between January 2025 and August 2026. This concentration follows executive orders from governors in both states that required local police to sign the agreements. However, the report also found high percentages of arrests by deputized officers in states not typically associated with aggressive enforcement.

In Wyoming, these officers made 77% of all immigration arrests in April 2026. They have made more than 60% of such arrests every month since November 2025. New Hampshire saw the program account for 60% of arrests in June 2026, while Oklahoma recorded a close to 50% share that same month.

Oklahoma's Highway Patrol signed up all of its troopers, giving them the power to stop drivers and potentially make arrests on state highways. Gabriela Ramirez-Perez, an immigration and economic security policy analyst at the Oklahoma Policy Institute, said this has frightened immigrant communities. She noted that people are changing their daily routines to try to avoid getting on the highway. The Justice Department offered $3 billion in funding to state and local agencies that join the program earlier this summer, a move Rose said is fueling the surge.