A Surge of ICE
Tom Homan's plan for a 'deportation army'
Tom Homan is (once again) promising a ‘surge’ of federal law enforcement in sanctuary cities and states1. And this time, he's threatening that criminal charges are coming soon for mayors and governors who refuse to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities.
Now, time will tell what comes of these threats. It’s important to note Homan is a known fan of hyperbole and bombastic statements.
You also might remember that ICE—as recently as January—claimed they’d need a large influx of funding to handle this long-televised plan from the GOP and Homan, Trump, Stephen Miller, et al.2:
New estimates from an internal ICE document obtained and verified by NPR show that the agency would need 110,000 more detention beds and over 10,000 enforcement and removal operations personnel to increase apprehensions, detentions and removals. More than 7,000 additional attorneys and support personnel would also be needed to handle immigration proceedings, according to the estimates. [emphasis added]
Since sanctuary policies range in scope, it’s unclear whether certain policies could be prioritized under this new enforcement campaign. For reference, here’s what the American Immigration Council has to say about sanctuary policies and the common themes involved3
Despite the nationwide debate, there is no one clear definition of what it means for a state or local government to adopt sanctuary policies. Sanctuary policies take many forms and generally fall into the following categories:
policies restricting the ability of state and local police to make arrests for federal civil immigration violations, or to detain individuals on civil immigration warrants;
policies prohibiting “287(g)” agreements through which Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deputizes local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law;
policies that prevent local governments from entering into a contract with the federal government to hold immigrants in detention;
policies preventing immigration detention centers;
policies restricting the police or other city workers from asking about immigration status;
policies restricting the sharing of certain information on immigrants with the federal government;
policies restricting local police responses to federal immigration detainers; and
policies refusing to allow ICE into local jails without a judicial warrant.
The Playbook
So how does ICE have the resources needed for this surge in enforcement? Sanctuary cities include Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New Orleans—not to mention the 11 U.S. states with sanctuary policies4.
As Austin Kocher explained in his newsletter earlier this week, the answer likely depends in “287(g)” agreements, used by the Department of Homeland Security to deputize local law enforcement, allowing them to enforce federal immigration law.5
Kocher explained how the program has absolutely ballooned since Trump’s inauguration in January:
“To see 500 [agreements]—and growing—is nothing short of astonishing. If it continues, which I’m sure it will, it will completely remake the landscape of interior immigration enforcement across the entire country.15 For now, new 287(g) agreements are heavily concentrated in Florida, Texas, North Carolina, and Georgia, but many other non-traditional states are signing on, too.”
To help visualize the data shared by Kocher, I made a simple report in Looker Studio to compare state-by-state and timeline trends across the 3 different types of these 287(g) agreements. Make sure to read the article for more context on each agreement type before playing around with the report!
What could this (seemingly under-reported) rapid growth in new collaboration agreements with local/state law enforcement mean for broader ICE plans? With a growing ‘deportation army’ of deputized police officers working for them—particularly in states like Florida and Texas—ICE could theoretically devote more existing personnel to sanctuary cities as part of this threatened surge. In other words: outsourcing.
Be a Good Neighbor
Now that we know the playbook, what can we do? As I mentioned on LinkedIn today: there are far too many people across this country going to bed scared these days, for no reason other than being trapped in a broken immigration system. It's now on all of us to tell this administration that enough is enough.
Here are a few ways we can each help our neighbors amid this aggressive and sloppy campaign of immigration enforcement.
Note: I’m not an attorney, and this isn’t legal advice—just curated tips (with sources) on how we can look out for each other and support our local communities right now.
📷 If you’re comfortable doing so (making sure not to intervene or obstruct the officers’ actions!), take video of the officers’ activities and/or document any relevant information in your phone’s notes app, including: time, the destination of the detained individual, or other arrest details shared by officers on-site.
📖 Share resources to help educate neighbors on their rights—the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) has flyers designed for specific situations, like what to do if you encounter ICE in public, or if a loved one is detained.
Here in Illinois, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights publishes “Know your rights” (o ”Conozca sus derechos”) resources and referral directories, and also offers a hotline to connect individuals with legal support and tangential services in time-sensitive situations.
📍Encourage your neighbors to have a family protection plan in place if there’s a risk that a household member, child’s caretaker, etc. is detained/deported. Organizations like the NIJC offer state-specific resources that can help, like FAQs on guardianship and power of attorney.
🗣️ And finally: speak up. We don’t need to engage in unsubstantiated rumors, complex/misleading legal debate, or government propaganda to know this isn’t right.
RESOURCES:
NIJC "Know Your Rights" Resources:
https://immigrantjustice.org/know-your-rights
ICIRR Family Support Network & Hotline:
https://www.icirr.org/fsn
ACLU:
https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/immigrants-rights
“Trump Border Czar Plans to Flood Worksites in Deportation Push”, Bloomberg (April 16, 2025)
“ICE estimates it would need $26.9 billion to enforce GOP deportation bill”, Ximena Bustillo, NPR (January 16, 2025)
Sanctuary Policies: An Overview, American Immigration Council (February 21, 2025)
Sanctuary Policies in a Federal System, Ilya Somin, Sᴛᴀᴛᴇ Cᴏᴜʀᴛ Rᴇᴘᴏʀᴛ (Apr. 4, 2025)
“Trump is Quietly Building a Deportation Army out of State and Local Agencies”, Austin Kocher, Substack (April 14, 2025)