In a move to offer protection to local law enforcement, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has introduced a strategy to buffer officers conducting immigration arrests from potential financial liabilities stemming from allegations of misconduct while on duty.
The plan, outlined in a document released last Friday, proposes that ICE would help cover the cost of liability insurance for state and local officers who are authorized and trained to enforce federal immigration laws.
Since President Donald Trump resumed office last year, partnerships between ICE and local police forces have increased, and this new insurance initiative could further entice departments that have previously hesitated due to liability concerns. The Associated Press has been the first to cover this development in insurance proposals.
The proposal details that participating officers would secure insurance policies that provide up to $500,000 in personal liability coverage, typically allocated towards legal expenses, settlements, and judgments. They would receive reimbursement for up to $250 per year, which aligns with the anticipated cost of the insurance.
Critics of ICE’s stringent approach to immigration enforcement suggest that this program might serve as another means for officers to circumvent accountability for any misconduct.
“The concern here is that ICE is going above and beyond to guarantee law enforcement does not have even the slightest risk of liability for violating Americans’ rights while helping ICE arrest people,” said David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, who has called on Congress to make it easier to sue ICE agents for wrongdoing.
ICE outlined the plan in a document informing industry officials that it is considering hiring a contractor to help provide outreach, training and communications support for its so-called 287(g) partnerships with local departments, which are named for a section of a 1996 immigration law. The contractor would hire the insurance vendor and process the reimbursements, among other tasks.
ICE has asked for industry feedback by Thursday. The proposed timeline for launching the program and its estimated cost are unclear.
ICE had no immediate comment on the plan.
Arrests by ICE’s local partners have spiked since last year
During Trump’s second term, ICE has offered generous financial incentives to participating local agencies, increasing the number who have partnered with the federal government, as well as the number of arrests.
Nearly 1,600 agencies in 32 states now have agreements to participate in ICE’s task force model, in which trained local officers can interrogate, arrest and charge people suspected of being in the country illegally, according to ICE data.
Departments qualify for funding to help cover expenses like their officers’ pay, equipment and vehicles. With encouragement from state and local Republican officials, agencies in Florida, Texas, Oklahoma and Georgia have been among the leaders.
Arrests made through such programs jumped to an average of 3,000 per month in the first two months of 2026, according to the most recent ICE data provided to the University of California Berkeley’s Deportation Data Project. That compares to a monthly average of 250 in 2024 under President Joe Biden.
Local departments, officers worried about liability for ICE work
As local officers increasingly carry out federal immigration work, they and their departments have expressed concerns about the civil liability that could result from claims alleging excessive use of force, wrongful arrest and illegal search and seizure, among other things.
That’s because insurance policies that cover their local work may not apply. Pennsylvania’s risk pool, for instance, recently made clear that it would exclude “proactive immigration enforcement activities” from coverage, forcing several participating counties to search for other insurance options.
Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe said he found insurance to cover his 13 deputies participating in the program at a cost of $20,000 in annual premiums.
“I want to make sure the guys are additionally covered, so we had to spend the money,” he said, adding that federal funding would cover the cost.
Federal officers usually enjoy legal immunities and a government-funded defense when they face lawsuits. But those protections may not always apply to local officers, which has heightened their concerns over liability and the need for insurance.
While civil lawsuits are the main concern, professional liability insurance typically helps cover legal fees for officers facing criminal investigations as well.
Sheriffs’ group says ICE’s insurance idea sounds promising
Justin Smith, a former Colorado sheriff who is executive director of the National Sheriffs’ Association, said ICE’s plan sounds promising and that he was anxious to speak with ICE about how the plan would work.
Smith said he has shared concerns with ICE that some sheriffs are reluctant to join the partnerships because of the potential liability at a time when immigration enforcement faces intense public protests and media scrutiny. Smith said others who are partnering with ICE have already started facing legal claims tied to their immigration work, which can be costly whether or not deputies are ultimately found to have done anything wrong.
“Right now, any time you are working on immigration there is going to be a much higher potential for there being problems and having suits and issues,” he said. “They’re recognizing that it is a different environment. And I think trying to be good partners with us as best they can.”
Under their agreements, ICE warns local departments that they are responsible for the costs of incidents that give rise to liability. But it seeks to reduce the risk by saying local officers performing ICE-authorized functions are “acting under color of federal authority,” which would bar lawsuits against individual officers.
The agreements also state that local officers who face civil lawsuits can ask the U.S. Department of Justice to represent them, and that ICE will generally support their requests. But the final decision on whether to do so rests with DOJ.
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