La signing of agreement 287(g) of the Caldwell Sheriff's OfficeOn September 9, it doubled the presence in western North Carolina of the model that allows local police to do immigration control on the street.
Until then, the only agency in the region that had it was the Newland Police Department in Avery County.
The Caldwell case, however, is the first time a sheriff's office in the western part of the state has adopted that model, extending those powers to an entire county and not just a city or municipality.
Western counties with agreements with ICE
There are currently six 287(g) agreements in effect in the mountainous region, according to ICE records reviewed by Enlace Latino NC They are concentrated in four counties: Caldwell, Henderson, Avery and Cherokee.
Caldwell is the only county in the region with two agreements in force simultaneously.
Furthermore, most of these agreements (four in total) only operate within jails. These are the agreements signed by the Caldwell Sheriff's Office in March 2020; Henderson Sheriff's Office in June 2020; Avery Sheriff's Office in July 2020; and Cherokee Sheriff's Office, which joined in March 2025.
In the case of Henderson County, it's worth noting that it has the only jail in the West. Under this system, the immigration status of individuals entering the county jail is reviewed, and ICE detainers can be issued.
The other three in prisons are the “Warrant Service Officer”, more limited, which only authorizes serving administrative arrest warrants against people already in custody.
Both with Task Force model
The other two agreements in the region are of the Task Force model, which allows officers to perform immigration functions outside of jail, while carrying out routine police work, and to participate in joint operations with ICE.
As explained at the beginning of this article, one corresponds to the Newland Police Department in Avery County. The other is the one that was just signed by the Caldwell Sheriff's Office.
It is the most comprehensive of the program's three models. It was suspended for over a decade following allegations of racial profiling and concerns about civil rights, until the Trump administration revived it in 2025.
The 287(g) program allows the federal government to delegate certain immigration functions to local police and sheriffs. It was created in 1996 when Congress passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which incorporated section 287(g) into the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Related: Pikeville police joins North Carolina agencies collaborating with ICE under 287(g)
The 19 counties without agreements
There are no 287(g) covenants in the rest of the West. These include Buncombe, the most populous county in the region, and also Burke, McDowell, Madison, Haywood, Jackson, Transylvania, Watauga, Macon, and Yancey.
That doesn't mean their marshals don't cooperate with ICE. Since December 1, 2024, State law HB 10 It requires the state's 100 marshals to verify the immigration status of people arrested for certain crimes and to hold them for up to 48 hours after their release if requested by ICE. Later, HB 318 expanded the list of crimes that trigger this process.
The rest of the state
North Carolina has 30 current agreements 287(g) among 27 agencies. In the state, agreements limited to jails predominate: 18 are “Warrant Service Officer” and 3 are “Jail Enforcement”.
The remaining nine correspond to the “Task Force” model, and only three were signed by sheriff's offices: Columbus, in September 2025, Onslow, in November of that year, and Caldwell.
All three arrived by the same path. First, they signed an agreement limited to prison, and months later, they added another one that allows them to operate on the street.
Nationally, the proportion is reversed. Of the 2,506 agreements in force in 41 states, 1,773 correspond to the “Task Force” model.
According to ICE data (updated to August 1, 2026), program agreements increased 1,564% since January 20, 2025, the day Donald Trump assumed his second term.
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