IDAHO — Idaho State Police will begin transporting immigrants who have completed criminal sentences directly to federal immigration facilities under a new agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Gov. Brad Little announced Thursday that the state has entered into an agreement with ICE under the federal 287(g) program, which allows state and local law enforcement to perform specific immigration functions under ICE supervision.
The agreement authorizes Idaho to spend up to $300,000 to conduct roughly 100 transports over the next year, focusing on individuals who have been convicted of crimes and finished their sentences.
"Idaho is stepping up to help the Trump administration transport dangerous illegal alien criminals to ICE facilities instead of being released back into our communities," Little said in a press release. "These are people who pose the greatest danger to Idaho families."
The program will operate under the Jail Enforcement Model, designed to identify immigrants eligible for removal who have been arrested on criminal charges and held in state or local detention facilities.
Most transports will go to the ICE detention facility in Jefferson County, with options for out-of-state facilities for what officials described as "higher-profile" cases.
"287g is critically important to our strategy of having the enforcement that we need to really address the criminal activities that we've seen out on the ground," said U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
