New Lawsuit Seeks Disclosure of Agreements Giving Local Law Enforcement Immigration Enforcement Powers

American Oversight on Thursday filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for failing to release records — required under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) — related to the Trump administration’s dramatic expansion of immigration enforcement agreements with state and local law enforcement under Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Since January, the Trump administration has signed more than 570 such agreements, deputizing local law enforcement officers across the country to perform federal immigration duties — often with minimal training and limited oversight. These agreements have been implemented alongside sweeping efforts to roll back humanitarian protections and increase arrests in schools, workplaces, and other community spaces.

“The public deserves to know why this administration is outsourcing federal immigration authority to local sheriffs with minimal training — and what’s being done to protect civil rights and prevent abuse,” said Chioma Chukwu, Executive Director of American Oversight. “These sweeping 287(g) agreements have empowered poorly trained local officers to target vulnerable immigrant communities with little oversight or accountability. Families are being torn apart, and people are living in fear — often for having the wrong skin color or for speaking the wrong language. Immigrant communities deserve safety, dignity, and justice — not discriminatory policies that strip away their rights behind closed doors.”

The lawsuit seeks the release of training materials, internal guidance, and email communications about the program — information that could reveal how and why ICE slashed training requirements and expanded the use of these controversial agreements across the country. Despite American Oversight having requested this information under FOIA in February, ICE has failed to produce any responsive records.

This case follows another recent lawsuit brought by American Oversight against multiple agencies, including ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, seeking records related to the administration’s politically motivated immigration enforcement actions — such as raids at schools, places of worship, and workplaces, and apparent efforts to punish perceived opponents and reward allies. Both lawsuits reflect mounting concerns about the lack of transparency surrounding a federal crackdown that has upended immigrant communities and bypassed long-standing norms of due process and public accountability.