By: Joshua Haiar
EAGLE PASS, Texas (South Dakota Searchlight) – South Dakota’s governor and attorney general separately visited the U.S.-Mexico border this week and announced efforts to involve the state in federal immigration enforcement.
During a news conference Wednesday with a coalition of Republican attorneys general in Arizona, Attorney General Marty Jackley said he has authorized the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, which he oversees, to pursue a 287(g) agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The federal agency is within the Department of Homeland Security led by former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
The agreement would allow state agents, after receiving federal training, to “identify, process, and detain individuals for immigration violations they encounter during their regular law enforcement activities,” the Attorney General’s Office wrote in a press release.
“I applaud and encourage the Trump administration to continue its efforts to close this border and to enforce our immigration laws across the United States,” Jackley said.
Meanwhile, South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden was in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Tuesday visiting South Dakota National Guard soldiers from the 109th Engineer Battalion. They’re on a yearlong federal deployment as part of “Operation International Drug Trafficking.” Their duties include supporting U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Following his visit, Rhoden announced Wednesday that he sent a letter of intent to Noem requesting a 287(g) agreement for the South Dakota Highway Patrol, which is part of the Department of Public Safety in Rhoden’s executive branch.
Rhoden’s letter specifies that he is requesting a task force model agreement, which would allow trained officers to enforce immigration laws during their regular patrols or investigations. The Obama administration discontinued the model in 2012 due to concerns over potential civil rights abuses arising from local and state law enforcement officers stopping people on the street and inquiring about their immigration status. The Trump administration revived the task force model this year.
Libby Skarin, executive director of American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota, said in a statement that 287(g) agreements have led to racial profiling, civil rights abuses and diverted resources from state and local law enforcement.
“Most of us can agree that the federal government needs to do much better on immigration policy and identify real solutions that are orderly, humane and fair,” she said. “Instead of imposing the federal government’s wishes upon every community in South Dakota, we encourage local control and support the right of local law enforcement to put the needs of their communities first by declining to participate in unnecessary, voluntary immigration enforcement.”
Taneeza Islam, CEO of South Dakota Voices for Peace, which advocates for immigrants, said the state’s pursuit of 287(g) agreements puts “politics over the best interests of South Dakota.” She predicted negative consequences.
“Victims of crimes will be scared to call law enforcement in fear of deportation. Labor and sex trafficking will increase as the perpetrators will leverage ICE working with law enforcement over their victims,” she said.
Rhoden, who is serving the remainder of Noem’s term after she resigned to serve in the Trump Cabinet, and Jackley, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2018, are both frequently mentioned as potential candidates for governor next year. Both are Republicans.
The announcements from both state leaders come amid an increase in immigration enforcement actions within South Dakota. Earlier this month, federal agents arrested eight immigrants in Madison for allegedly using fraudulent documents to gain employment. As of last week, more than two dozen people were being held in South Dakota jails for immigration matters.
Two local South Dakota jurisdictions have already signed 287(g) agreements. Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead and Hughes County Sheriff Patrick Callahan both signed on earlier this spring. The counties are participating in the warrant service officer program. It allows local jail staff to serve ICE-issued immigration warrants on inmates already in custody for other criminal charges, negating the need for ICE officers to serve those warrants themselves.
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