Oklahoma County Sheriff Wants Deputies Trained by ICE, Denies New Immigration Unit

Oklahoma County Sheriff Tommie Johnson III is asking county commissioners to let his deputies receive training through U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a move that would authorize field officers to perform certain immigration enforcement duties under ICE supervision. Johnson has said the training would help deputies handle suspects who have ties to the immigration system.

The request, first reported by News 9, now heads to the Oklahoma County commissioners, who will consider whether to approve it. The mechanism is known as Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, a 1996 federal law that lets the Department of Homeland Security enter written agreements with local law enforcement agencies to delegate specific civil immigration authority to designated officers, according to the American Immigration Council. Deputized officers under the program can perform status checks, access federal databases, and issue administrative detainers under ICE oversight, per the same organization.

Johnson has pushed back on characterizations of what the training would mean in practice. He said, contrary to some assumptions, that the sheriff's office is not creating a special immigration enforcement unit as part of the program. He also said deputies would not wear masks as part of the program, and would not conduct immigration checks at schools or churches, according to the station's report.

Why This Falls to Patrol Deputies, Not Jailers

A structural detail shapes exactly who this training would affect: the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office has not run the county jail since July 2020, when operational control of the Oklahoma County Detention Center was transferred to the independent Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority, known as the Jail Trust, per the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority. That leaves the sheriff's office responsible for field patrol, warrant service, and courthouse security rather than facility management, which means any 287(g) training Johnson secures would apply to patrol and warrant deputies, not correctional staff working inside the jail.

Johnson took office in January 2021 after winning election in November 2020 as the first Black sheriff in Oklahoma County history, and he won re-election in November 2024 for a term running through January 2029, according to background reported by The Frontier. He previously served as a Norman police officer and as a campus officer at the University of Oklahoma before his election.

A National Surge in Local-Federal Immigration Deals

The Oklahoma County request lands amid a dramatic nationwide expansion of these agreements. ICE reported signing more than 2,300 Section 287(g) Memorandums of Agreement across the country as of this month, up sharply from roughly 135 active agreements in late 2024, the agency says. ICE offers several models under the program, including Jail Enforcement, Warrant Service Officer, and Task Force versions, with the latter credentialing officers to check immigration status during routine duties like traffic stops.

Federal authorities have also expanded Task Force Model agreements with state police in Oklahoma and neighboring states over the past two years, training state troopers to verify immigration status during traffic stops and commercial vehicle checks, a trend documented by the World Socialist Web Site in Hoodline's prior coverage of an Oklahoma girl's quinceañera without her father after ICE detained him following a traffic stop. That case illustrated how immigration checks during routine stops have already reshaped families in the state.

Commissioners and Sheriff Have Clashed Before

The three-member Board of Oklahoma County Commissioners, which oversees county financial affairs and must approve intergovernmental contracts like this one, will now have to weigh Johnson's request. The relationship between the sheriff and the board has been strained recently: in May, commissioners denied Johnson's request for county funding to hire outside legal counsel amid an ongoing dispute with the Jail Trust over inmate transportation duties, citing concerns that the county could face litigation, according to FOX 25's coverage of the dispute.　

Immigration enforcement inside county facilities has been a politically sensitive subject in Oklahoma County for years. Tensions over ICE's presence and authority in county facilities were prominent under a previous administration, contributing to debates that predated the jail's separation from the sheriff's office in 2020, according to Oklahoma City Free Press.

State Law Still Tied Up in Court

Johnson's request also arrives while Oklahoma's own immigration statute remains legally unsettled. State lawmakers enacted House Bill 4156 in April 2024 to criminalize unauthorized presence in Oklahoma as what the law calls impermissible occupation, but federal courts have issued a preliminary injunction blocking its enforcement while the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals considers whether the state penalties conflict with federal authority over immigration, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

The proposal also follows a string of local flashpoints over immigration enforcement cooperation in the Oklahoma City metro area. In January, the Oklahoma City Council deferred renewing an investigative database contract for the police department after members raised concerns about whether the tool could be accessed by federal immigration authorities, Hoodline reported at the time. That debate, along with the governor's public support for federal-state immigration collaboration and ICE's push to recruit Oklahoma City lawyers, reflects how closely local officials are now scrutinizing any new immigration enforcement arrangement before it moves forward.