A new agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement allows designated Riverton police officers to enforce immigration law.
It also formalizes ties between the local agency and the federal government.
“This partnership acts as a force multiplier,” Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs and Police Chief Shane Taylor said in a joint statement. “It allows federal immigration authorities and our local law enforcement team to work side by side to locate and remove criminal offenders who threaten public safety. By putting federal resources to work here in Riverton, we can better protect our residents, uphold the rule of law and keep our neighborhoods safe from criminal activity.”
Such contracts, known as 287(g) agreements after the federal law that allows them, basically deputize local police officers to identify and arrest people living in the United States without legal status. Those officers will have enforcement powers similar to ICE agents.
The pacts have been criticized for creating unfunded federal mandates, reducing public safety by scaring victims away from coming forward, and diverting officers from their regular duties.
While Riverton is the first Utah city to sign such an agreement, nine county sheriffs’ offices and the Utah Department of Corrections have also inked contracts with ICE. City spokesperson Josh Lee said the agreement is finalized and does not need to go to the City Council for approval.
“Every Riverton resident deserves to feel safe in our community,” council member Tawnee McCay, who is running to replace Staggs, said of the agreement. “I have full faith and trust in the Riverton Police Department to continue to work appropriately with law enforcement partners to ensure our safety.”
Fellow council member and mayoral candidate Tish Buroker declined to comment and has directed questions to Staggs.
Riverton and ICE agreed to execute the most intensive type of these agreements, the task force model, in which a number of sworn officers will go through virtual training and receive enhanced immigration powers. Riverton officials did not respond to a question about how many officers they intend to certify under the program.
It’s not clear how rigorous the training on complex civil immigration law and procedures for local officers is, said Aaron Welcher, spokesperson for Utah’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
“[The agreement] doesn’t create public safety,” Welcher said. “It actually makes people afraid to call for help, report crimes or even cooperate with local law enforcement. It also makes it so that people aren’t sharing information that they should be with officials, because people are afraid that it can lead to deportation.”
One study — which has since disappeared from a federal website for the National Institute of Justice — found that 287(g) pacts from 2005 through 2010 were ineffective in reducing crime.
Another, using data from 2005 through 2014, found that they actually increased Latinos’ risk of being victims of violent crime and did not reduce the risk of victimization for Black and white people.
Welcher also criticized the contracts for creating unfunded mandates for local departments as there are no grants associated with the program. He added that poor enforcement could also cost cities in civil rights lawsuits.
In December 2024, 135 local and state law enforcement agencies had participated in 287(g) agreements. Now, 743 have signed accords with ICE as President Donald Trump’s second administration conducts an expanding crackdown on immigration.
Correction • Sept. 4, 4 p.m.: This story has been updated to correct the number of law enforcement agencies that have signed agreements with ICE.