As the incoming Donald Trump administration gears up to conduct what it has described as the "largest deportation operation in American history," local and state administration are taking different approaches toward cooperation based on their political stances.
While several Democratic-led administrations have vowed to take a stand against the operation, many Republican-led counterparts are eagerly embracing it and seeking to cooperate with it.
Some of those in the latter camp are set to resort to a controversial program allowing them to partner with immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Concretely, the 287 (g) program allows state and local law enforcement officers to help enforce federal immigration law.
The program was implemented in 1996 under then-President Bill Clinton, and it allows ICE to delegate to state and local law enforcement officials some actions reserved for immigration officers, most notably detain people for up to 48 hours if ICE has chosen them for deportation.
Supporters of this program say that the action can only be taken if the people have been detained for other charges, and that local officials cannot round up undocumented immigrants on the street, according to NBC News.
The outlet quoted Jeffrey Gahler, the sheriff of Harford County in Maryland, a supporter of the program. "This isn't stopping people on the street saying 'show me your papers,'" he said.
"If they're brought in, they're arrested for something that they have committed, an act they've committed against the citizens of our community. And at that point, they're held accountable for the action of being in the country illegally," he added.
Democratic, officials, however, have moved to cancel the program in several parts of the country, with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) saying it strongly opposes is as it amounts to racial profiling.
Tom Homan, appointed by Trump as the incoming "border czar," said that the new administration plans to withhold federal funds from states and municipalities that refuse to cooperate with its mass deportation initiatives.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has been particularly vocal in this camp, pledging to resist federal immigration enforcement within his city. Johnston likened potential confrontations to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in China, stating, "It's like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right? You'd have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. And you do not want to mess with them."
Homan, however, answered in another interview and suggested he would have no problem putting Johnston into jail if he decided to move forward with his stance. "Look, me and the Denver mayor, we agree on one thing. He's willing to go to jail, I'm willing to put him in jail"
Homan referenced federal law, stating that harboring or concealing undocumented immigrants is a felony under Title 8 of the U.S. Code. He added that Johnston's actions could impede federal law enforcement, another potential violation.
"We are going to go do the job," continued Homan. "President Trump has a mandate for the American people. We've got to secure this country, and we have to save American lives," he told Hannity.
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