Two elected constables in the Philadelphia suburbs quietly signed on last year to a federal program that deputizes local officers to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Lansdowne's constable and the Honey Brook constable entered memorandums of agreement with ICE in 2025, a move that has alarmed county leaders and immigrant-rights advocates. The agreements expand what local law enforcement can do in encounters with people suspected of lacking immigration status and arrive as federal partnerships are rapidly multiplying nationwide.
Records show Lansdowne Constable Jerome Fletcher signed a 287(g) memorandum of agreement with ICE in August 2025, and Honey Brook Constable David Jones Sr. entered one in October, although state records indicate Fletcher has not finished the required training. Lansdowne borough leaders told investigators they believed Fletcher had withdrawn his application months earlier, and Delaware County Council Chair Dr. Monica Taylor told investigators the county "does not need our law enforcement agencies to be at the whims of the federal government." One participant also told investigators their department had made seven arrests on behalf of ICE, as reported by NBC10 Philadelphia.
What 287(g) authorizes
The federal 287(g) program allows ICE to train and certify local officers to perform specific immigration enforcement functions, including screening people booked into jails for removable status, interviewing suspects about immigration status, issuing detainers and executing administrative warrants. ICE says it provides training and describes three participation models: jail enforcement, warrant service and task-force models, and that it covers training costs for participating jurisdictions, according to ICE.
Local pushback and policy moves
The sign-ups come amid a wave of local moves to limit cooperation with ICE. Philadelphia councilmembers introduced a package of "ICE Out" bills to bar federal agents from staging operations on city property and to restrict city assistance to ICE, and nearby Narberth borough recently voted to forbid its police from participating in 287(g) enforcement. Those efforts mirror a broader regional debate about whether local policing should be tied to federal immigration work, as reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Why civil-rights groups are wary
Critics and former DHS civil-rights watchdogs note that the task-force model was largely shelved after early-2010s investigations found abusive practices, and they warn that reviving that model heightens the risk of racial profiling and improper detentions. National reporting shows the number of 287(g) partnerships has jumped dramatically in the last year, with reporting putting active agreements in the low thousands, a surge that watchdogs say makes stronger oversight and local scrutiny more urgent, per coverage by The Guardian.
Legal questions and what to watch next
Key questions now center on whether training and federal supervision are completed, who had authority to enter the memoranda of agreement, and whether local agencies will actually use the powers those agreements grant. Similar moves elsewhere have already prompted lawsuits and hearings, including ACLU challenges over sheriff's-office training in the region, and county officials say they are reviewing records as communities weigh public-safety arguments against civil-liberties concerns, per reporting by NBC10 Philadelphia.
