Gov. Patrick Morrisey is asking the federal government to approve West Virginiaֱs participation in a program that will give more flexibility to correctional officers and other law enforcement agencies by granting them some immigration enforcement powers.
Those powers are typically only held by federal agents, including officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
If the federal government approves West Virginiaֱs to participate in , Morrisey said state correctional officers and local law enforcement will be authorized to transport undocumented immigrants who are detained into federal custody without an ICE agent being present.
Under the Warrant Service Officer program, the model of the 287(g) program the state is requesting to participate in, ICE will ֱtrain, certify and authorize state and local law enforcement officers to serve and execute administrative warrantsֱ on undocumented people being held in local jails, according to ICE.
This is the first time West Virginia has requested authorization under the 287(g) program. Nationwide, at least 133 law enforcement agencies in 21 states currently participate in some form of the program. News reports in recent weeks show that several other states and jurisdictions are considering or are in the process of applying, including in Tennessee, South Carolina, Indiana, Florida and more.
According to ICE, those wishing to participate in the program will sign a memorandum of agreement with ICE. All participating officers must be U.S. citizens and complete and pass a background check before being approved. Morrisey said Thursday that, following talks with both the Trump Administration and ICE, he expected to see West Virginiaֱs application approved ֱexpeditiously.ֱ
Morrisey said participation in the program in West Virginia will ֱspeed upֱ the deportation process for undocumented people who are detained in the state. Delegating immigration enforcement powers to lower law enforcement agencies, he continued, ֱfrees upֱ ICE agents to focus on other enforcement activities.
So far, dozens of people have been taken into custody or identified in West Virginiaֱs jails and prisons for not having legal citizenship.
While the state is nearly 1,500 miles away from the nationֱs southern border, Morrisey reiterated Thursday that unauthorized immigration is a threat to the state due to fentanyl trafficking. In 2023 ֱ the most recent year nearly complete data is available from the state Department of Health ֱ in West Virginia involved fentanyl.
ֱFor all those who keep saying that illegal immigration doesnֱt touch on West Virginia, youֱre dead wrong, and Iֱm going to keep focusing on this because of the impact of what weֱve seen with fentanyl flooding into our state,ֱ Morrisey said. ֱThis is a really big issue for West Virginia. Thatֱs why weֱre working on it.ֱ
But according to the , more than 85% of people charged with fentanyl trafficking annually are U.S. citizens. Nearly 82% of all convicted drug traffickers in 2023 were U.S. residents. Most ֱ more than 90% ֱ of the fentanyl that is seized at the Mexican border comes through legal points of entry, according to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.
In 2023, former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters it was ֱunequivocally falseֱ that ֱnon-citizensֱ were bringing fentanyl into the U.S. Most immigrants at the border, he said, are asylum-seekers who are ֱmaking claims of credible fearֱ and looking for a safer place to live.
When asked Thursday if any of the undocumented people detained in the state so far were guilty of or being investigated for fentanyl-related crimes, Morrisey said he did not have the data in front of him at the time. He continued to say that it was ֱnot remotely disputableֱ that there was a connection between unauthorized immigration and fentanylֱs presence in West Virginia.
The 287(g) program is, historically, controversial. According to the , several communities where the program has been enacted previously have experienced upticks in racial profiling, increased policing costs for localities and damage to community policing relationships, among other things.
According to a , at least 65% of 287(g)-participating agencies held a pattern of racial profiling and other civil rights violations, including excessive uses of force. About 77% of participating agencies, per the analysis, were ֱrunning detention facilities with serious and extensive records of inhumane conditions.ֱ
