Trump is pushing 287(g) deputization to 1,000+ agencies as states split over compliance

By September 2025, DHS had signed more than 1,000 Section 287(g) agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies — a more than sixfold increase from the roughly 150 agreements active at the end of the Biden administration. Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act lets the federal government deputize local officers to perform immigration enforcement functions, from interviewing detainees about immigration status to conducting field operations. The Trump administration's Executive Order 14159, signed January 20, 2025, directed ICE to sign these agreements to the maximum extent permitted by law.

🎸Tennessee's state legislature passed SB6002 in 2025, creating criminal penalties for local officials who adopt sanctuary policies. Under the law, a public official convicted of maintaining a sanctuary policy faces a Class E felony charge carrying up to six years in prison and automatic removal from office. Tennessee also passed legislation requiring state and local courts to cooperate with ICE agents and mandating that all local law enforcement agencies enter into 287(g) agreements.

🌴Florida emerged as one of the most aggressive state enforcers, with nearly 100 law enforcement agencies enrolled in 287(g) programs as of March 2025. Florida's SB1808, passed in 2022, already required all law enforcement agencies operating detention facilities to sign 287(g) agreements. In 2025, the state expanded those requirements, making Florida a testing ground for maximum ICE cooperation.

Democratic-led states pushed back with legal strategies and counter-legislation. 🌽Illinois passed a law allowing residents to sue federal immigration agents in civil court if agents violate state law — the Trump administration sued to block it.

🦞Maine established a tip line for residents to report ICE activity. Democrats in 🏛️Massachusetts, 🗽New York, and other states proposed safe zones around courthouses, schools, churches, and hospitals where ICE could not make arrests.

A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from cutting federal funding to 16 sanctuary cities and counties in April 2025

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District Judge William Orrick ruled Trump's executive orders were coercive and intended to commandeer local officials into enforcing federal immigration law — a violation of the anti-commandeering doctrine A 🌴California judge extended that injunction to 50 jurisdictions in 14 states in August 2025.

The anti-commandeering doctrine comes from two landmark Supreme Court rulings. 🗽New York v. United States (1992) struck down a law requiring states to take title to radioactive waste.

Printz v. United States (1997) invalidated a provision requiring local law enforcement to conduct federal background checks under the Brady Handgun Act. Together, these cases established that the Tenth Amendment bars Congress from ordering state executives to administer federal programs.

The Trump administration's sanctuary jurisdiction list includes 18 cities and 12 states — including 🌴California, 🌽Illinois, 🦆Minnesota, 🏔️Colorado, 🦞Connecticut, 🎰Nevada, 🗽New York, 🌲Oregon, ⚓Rhode Island, 🍁Vermont, and 🌲Washington. The White House publicly threatened these jurisdictions with funding cutoffs and a January 2026 White House article titled Minnesota's Sanctuary Defiance Has Consequences directly targeted the state. As of February 2026, no local official had been criminally charged for maintaining sanctuary policies.

🦆Minnesota became a legal and political focal point. The state allows all residents regardless of immigration status to obtain driver's licenses since October 2023, with about 81,000 undocumented immigrants becoming eligible. Legal scholars at Lawfare described Minnesota's Tenth Amendment case against federal immigration pressure as compelling, while the White House directly threatened the state with consequences for its resistance.