The Broome County Sheriff’s Office will partner with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to train some corrections staff to serve civil immigration warrants.

Sheriff Fred Akshar announced last week that his office plans to participate in the Warrant Service Officer program, which permits state and local law enforcement “to serve and execute administrative warrants on aliens in their agency’s jail,” according to the program’s website. It is one of three agreements state and local enforcement agencies can sign with ICE under the 287(g) program, established in 1996 by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.

The sheriff’s office signed the agreement on March 10. Per a program fact sheet, ICE will conduct background checks on designated staff members, who will then participate in an eight-hour training session on executing warrants on behalf of federal officials.

Akshar said only the corrections division will assist in serving these warrants to “lawfully detained adult individuals within the correctional facility.”

“Previously, if an individual was brought to the correctional facility on a separate charge and was found to have an outstanding warrant with ICE, our staff would have to contact ICE and a member of ICE would then have to travel to the correctional facility to execute the warrant,” he said. “This simply makes the process more efficient, and I want to make sure that the staff is trained appropriately to execute these warrants, lawfully, effectively, and efficiently.”

On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order asking the secretary of homeland security to allow state and local law enforcement officials participating in the 287(g) program “to perform the functions of immigration officers in relation to the investigation, apprehension, or detention of aliens in the United States” consistent with federal law. Akshar said the office’s law enforcement division will not assume new responsibilities under the program, and any warrants issued by corrections staff would apply to “individuals who are already at the correctional facility for a criminal charge.”

Hussein Adams, the executive director and CEO of the American Civic Association, said ICE officials would need a court order for state law enforcement to assist with detaining and deporting individuals. In 2020, the New York State Legislature passed the Protect Our Courts Act to prevent federal immigration officials from arresting undocumented immigrants at “state, city and municipal courthouses,” according to a fact sheet from the Immigrant Defense Project, an organization that advocates for and provides legal advice to immigrants.

Various student groups rallied last month to oppose Trump’s immigration-centered executive orders. They called for Binghamton University’s full noncooperation with ICE and greater support for undocumented students.

Shawn Redhead, the secretary of the Thurgood Marshall Pre-Law Society and a junior double-majoring in political science and philosophy, politics and law, said the administration’s deployment of ICE officials “sets a dangerous precedent.”

“Where the United States once stood for protecting the rights and interests of minority individuals, as the melting pot of the world, we are now seeing a shift towards policies that imply that outsiders are dangerous and inherently bad for our country,” Redhead wrote. “It is imperative that now, more than ever, we come together as Americans and say that these are not the policies, ideologies, or actions that we stand for.”

“We will only see a brighter future if we sooner come together than divide ourselves based on such trivial lines as our races, our nationalities, or our skin colors,” he continued.

As of March 27, the Broome County Sheriff’s Office is one of three New York law enforcement agencies to have enrolled in 287(g). The Nassau County Sheriff’s Office signed an agreement with ICE on Feb. 28 to participate in the same Warrant Service Officer program.

Akshar said the corrections facility has the capacity to hold individuals detained by ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service, with 21 ICE detainees and 24 Marshals detainees held as of Tuesday. He said this was not connected to participation in the 287(g) program.

“At the end of the day, my job is to keep this community safe,” Akshar said. “If you threaten the safety and security of the people who live, work and raise their families here, no matter your immigration status, we are going to find you, hold you accountable, and I am more than glad to welcome you to stay in this facility. It’s really that simple.”