As President Donald Trump pursues a shock-and-awe crackdown on illegal immigration, some Louisiana lawmakers want to “set the tone” that local law enforcement will cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts.
Sen. Jay Morris, R-West Monroe, has filed legislation that would make it a crime for any public official to interfere with Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other federal immigration enforcement agencies. Those officials could be charged with malfeasance in office or even obstruction of justice.
“I can’t believe that we actually need a law that says that local officials have to cooperate with our federal law enforcement officials,” Morris said. “But apparently around the country it’s become somewhat of a trend in certain areas to say they are not gonna cooperate with the federal government. And I think that’s wrong.”
Morris said he supports Trump’s handling of immigration: “He’s doing the right thing by deporting criminals and people who are here illegally. It’s not much more complicated than that.”
For the most part, state and local law enforcement agencies play a narrow role in immigration detention and deportation.
“Immigration law is federal administrative law,” explained Metairie immigration attorney Michael Gahagan. “It’s not criminal law where the judge issues a warrant and the sheriff’s deputy will go out and arrest them at their house based on this arrest warrant.”
Federal officers enforce federal laws, Gahagan said. Because of that, ICE or other federal agencies take the lead on immigration enforcement operations, though sometimes they enlist the support of state or local police.
In the course of their regular policing, however, state or local law enforcement may learn someone they have arrested is wanted by ICE. In that case, they can inform ICE and hold that suspect for up to 48 hours through what is known as an “immigration detainer.”
Just two Louisiana law enforcement agencies out of the many scattered throughout the state’s 64 parishes have formal agreements in place to assist ICE, according to data available on the agency’s website: the Kenner Police Department and the Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Those arrangements are often referred to as “287(g) agreements” and are set up under section 287(g) of a federal law called the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Both Kenner and Bossier Parish signed onto “jail enforcement model” agreements.
These allow certain trained local officers to perform immigration enforcement duties inside the local jail after someone has been arrested and booked for another crime.
Those tasks include identifying and interviewing people to determine if they are subject to deportation, issuing detainers, serving ICE warrants, and preparing removal proceeding documents.
Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley signed up in mid-March.
“Sweeps and checkpoints and things of that nature; that’s not even possible with the model we’re going into,” he explained.
Instead, the agreement applies only to people who have been arrested and taken into custody for another offense.
The agreement gives the Kenner Police Department access to federal databases to confirm an arrestee’s identity and the training and legal authority to interview those who are in police custody to determine if they are deportable.
Conley, who was elected to his post in 2022 and over the years held various roles in Jefferson Parish politics and law enforcement, leads the police force in a city where nearly 30% of the population is Hispanic.
Jefferson Parish, where Kenner is located, has the , according to U.S. census data.
“I know that the main knock on 287(g) is that the police department might lose trust of the Hispanic community,” he said. “I think it’s my job as the leader of this department and as an elected official to work on that trust.”
Without the agreement, the police department had to rely on federal officials for these tasks, something that historically has been “very time consuming,” Conley said.
Bossier Parish Sheriff Julian Whittington signed a jail enforcement model agreement on Feb. 27, but through a spokesperson declined to share additional information about the arrangement.
ICE did not respond to requests for comment about immigration enforcement arrests in Louisiana.
The latest regional ICE arrest statistics available on its website are from October 2024. They show that for the 2024 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, there were a total of 10,327 ICE arrests in the area that includes Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.
Other agencies considering agreements with ICE
It is possible that other Louisiana agencies could sign similar agreements with ICE.
The Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office is “in active negotiations with ICE to fulfill key regional functions,” according to LPSO spokesperson Valerie Ponseti.
“These agreements are in process, and it would be premature to disclose details,” she said in an email.
In the meantime, “we actively work with ICE to detain and remit prisoners that we receive in the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center who do not have lawful status to be in the United States,” she said.
Lafayette Parish Sheriff Mark Garber ended the policy of a previous sheriff not to honor ICE detainers when he took office in 2016. He said that since then, his office has “worked with ICE seamlessly.”
Garber changed course after a 2014 decision by then-Sheriff Mike Neustrom to honor only ICE detainers that were also supported by a judge’s order. Neustrom at the time said the policy was an effort to avoid litigation after a federal judge found a county jail in Oregon liable for civil rights violations over an ICE detainer.
Offenders who don’t have legal status to be in the U.S. “are putting an unnecessary strain on an already strained criminal justice system and parish jail,” Garber said. “We look forward to cooperating with a reinvigorated Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency to alleviate some of these pressures from our community.”
What do other agencies do?
Louisiana State Police confirmed it does not work with ICE under any formal agreement, but didn’t share details as to how the agencies do work together.
“Louisiana State Police regularly collaborates with local, state, and federal partners in our shared mission of enforcing laws and ensuring safety in our communities,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement.
Likewise, Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard said that, while there’s no formal agreement, if someone booked in Livingston Parish is identified as being wanted by ICE, the agency honors immigration detainers.
“We have always maintained an outstanding working relationship with our local ICE agents,” Ard said.
What do Baton Rouge and New Orleans do?
The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office, through a spokesperson, said it doesn’t have any formal agreements in place with ICE nor has it been asked by the agency to participate in any immigration enforcement activity.
In Orleans Parish, a consent decree has been in place since 2013 that limits how the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office can assist ICE with immigration detainers or verifying citizenship status.
But banned illegal immigration sanctuary policies and is now the basis for an ongoing legal to end the consent decree.
In the meantime, OPSO in a statement said it “remains in full compliance with all applicable state laws and valid court orders related to ICE detainers.”
“Under current policy, which is mandated by the consent decree, OPSO honors ICE detainers in cases involving serious crimes such as murder, rape, and armed robbery,” the agency said. “Our office will continue to follow the law as directed by the courts while maintaining our commitment to public safety and constitutional policing.”
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and the New Orleans Police Department did not respond to requests for comment on how those agencies collaborate with ICE.
