Gov. Gordon formalizes contract between ICE, Wyoming Highway Patrol

CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Highway Patrol has entered an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including collaborating with local sheriffs and assisting in arresting undocumented immigrants.

In a news release sent out Monday, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon announced that he had formalized a 287(g) agreement between ICE and the WHP.

The program, named for Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, authorizes ICE to partner with state and local law enforcement agencies to enforce certain aspects of U.S. immigration law.

The program allows designated officers to identify and process undocumented immigrants subject to removal, essentially deputizing local law enforcement as immigration officers.

Five county sheriff ’s departments in Wyoming — Campbell, Carbon, Laramie, Natrona and Sweetwater — have entered 287(g) agreements with ICE, and now under this new agreement, the WHP will be assisting them in these contracts.

“Wyoming has been firm in our commitment to helping secure the border, and this is another step in that process,” Gordon said in the news release. “Our nation’s security depends upon effective immigration enforcement, and I am proud that our Wyoming Highway Patrol continues to support this effort and is now formalizing their commitment to this work through our agreement with ICE.”

Like the other 287(g) agreements, the Memorandum of Agreement authorizes the WHP to perform specified immigration officer functions under ICE’s oversight, including taking action and developing evidence against individuals they encounter who are in violation of U.S. immigration laws.

The WHP has entered into a Task Force model agreement, which “serves as a force multiplier for law enforcement agencies to enforce limited immigration authority with ICE oversight during their routine police duties,” according to ICE.

“The signing of this agreement and the Wyoming Highway Patrol joining the 287(g) program is a great force multiplier for my ICE officers in Wyoming,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Denver Field Office Director Robert Guadian. “I applaud the Governor for joining with us to keep Wyoming communities safe.”

Not all groups share Guadian’s certainty that the agreement will keep Wyoming communities safe. In response to Gordon’s announcement on Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Wyoming’s executive director, Libby Skarin, released a statement reiterating the organization’s opposition to 287(g).

“The federal government has indicated that mass deportations are a priority for the current administration,” Skarin said. “However, what the federal government wants is not what’s best for Wyoming. Compliance with ICE will not improve public safety or protect our state and, in fact, puts politics over the best interests of Wyoming.”