LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Tomorrow, the Tom Green County Commissioners’ Court will consider authorizing the Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office to participate in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s 287(g) Warrant Service Officer (WSO) Program, following the requirements of Senate Bill 8, which took effect January 1.
This proposal has been framed as a limited, administrative change. But the reality is that it expands federal immigration enforcement into our local jail system without improving public safety — and at real cost to community trust and safety.
The Warrant Service Officer Program allows ICE to train and certify local officers to serve and execute federal administrative immigration warrants on people already in county custody. These are civil warrants, not criminal warrants issued by a judge, and they do not require a conviction for a violent crime.
Multiple studies and reviews of Department of Homeland Security data have found no evidence that 287(g) agreements reduce violent crime. Jurisdictions with these programs do not see lower rates of assault, homicide, or sexual violence. What they do see is reduced cooperation with law enforcement, particularly among immigrant and mixed-status communities.
When people are afraid that any interaction with law enforcement could lead to immigration consequences, they are less likely to report crimes, less likely to serve as witnesses, and less likely to seek help during emergencies. Survivors of domestic violence and workplace exploitation are especially affected. This creates blind spots for law enforcement — and those blind spots make everyone less safe.
There are also serious concerns about training and accountability. Officers participating in 287(g) programs receive far less training than federal immigration officers, often limited to short courses focused narrowly on immigration authority rather than the constitutional, linguistic, and cultural complexities involved. Civil rights organizations and investigative reporting have documented cases across the country where insufficient training under 287(g) programs has contributed to wrongful detentions, use-of-force incidents, and preventable injuries and deaths — outcomes that would not have occurred under properly trained federal oversight.
Local law enforcement officers are trained to keep the peace, respond to emergencies, and protect the public. Asking them to carry out federal immigration enforcement — without the depth of training ICE officers receive — increases the risk of mistakes with life-altering consequences for families and legal consequences for counties.
Tom Green County already faces real public safety challenges: staffing shortages, mental health crises, domestic violence, substance abuse, and emergency response needs. Diverting time, resources, and personnel into immigration enforcement does nothing to address those issues.
Senate Bill 8 may require counties to enter into an agreement, but it does not require silence or blind acceptance. The public deserves clear answers about how this program will be implemented, what limits will be placed on it, what training standards will apply, and how the county will prevent harm and liability.
Public safety is built on trust, competence, and focus. Policies that erode trust, expand responsibilities without adequate training, and fail to reduce violent crime move us in the wrong direction.,
— Rev. Shiloh Salazar, candidate for Texas House District 72
