Quick Look at ICE ACCESS
and Related Programs
ICE ACCESS
(U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance
Safety and Security)
An umbrella program in which ICE, a federal entity under the Department of Homeland Security,
provides assistance and information to team with local law enforcement officers in enforcement of
immigration law. There are a number of programs and operations associated with ICE ACCESS,
including:
287(g) program * Criminal Alien Program (“CAP”) * Operation Community Shield
287(g)
The 287(g) program is in operation in 63 law enforcement agencies across the country. It gives
local law enforcement the authority to enforce immigration law through a Memorandum of Agreement
(“MOA” or “MOU”) between ICE and the local law enforcement agency. Currently, North Carolina is
the state with the second-most number of MOAs nationwide. In addition to the eight North Carolina
locations with MOA’s in operation below, the NC Sheriffs’ Association reports 18 additional counties
have applied for the program. You can view active MOAs at www.acluofnorthcarolina.org.
Location
Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office
Alamance County Sheriff’s Office
Gaston County Sheriff’s Office
Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office
City of Durham Police Department
Wake County Sheriff’s Office
Henderson County Sheriff’s Office
Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office
Date Signed
February 2006
January 2007
February 2007
August 2007
February 2008
July 2008
July 2008
July 2008
Jurisdictions with the 287(g) program have either a “detention model” or a “field model.” This
refers to the types of officers who are designated and trained by ICE to operate the program to enforce
immigration law. The “field model” includes officers who work in the field, and the “detention model”
means the MOA limits training to officers who work in jail facilities. While Durham has the only “field
model” in North Carolina, the MOAs for Alamance and Mecklenburg county do not prohibit use in the
field, so the type of model used in those counties is unclear.
CAP (“Criminal Alien Program”)
The CAP program is part of an initiative called “Secure Communities,” which according to ICE is
focused on the identification, detention and deportation of noncitizens (both documented and
undocumented) who are criminal offenders. CAP uses a “risk analysis” that is intended to target people
incarcerated in “high risk” facilities first. ICE reports that as a result of the CAP program, 95,000 people
out of the 278,000 who were deported in 2007 had criminal histories. This program is in place in many
jurisdictions across North Carolina, however lack of transparency makes locating those jurisdictions
difficult.
S.B. 229
S.B. 229 is a North Carolina law that has been in effect since January 2008. It is a separate and
distinct program from ICE ACCESS that requires any jail or detention facility to check the national origin
of any person charged with (not convicted of) a felony or DWI and held for any period of time. This
check is not limited in the statute to felony or DWI charges, so those arrested and charged with
misdemeanors may also be checked although such checks are not the stated intent of the law.
Updated October 2008