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Local jails play an integral role in the Trump administration’s efforts to abduct, detain and deport millions of immigrants, according to a new report from the research and advocacy group Prison Policy Initiative (PPI).
PPI says that from January 20 to June 26, almost half of all ICE arrests involved people who were detained at a local jail, typically accused of minor offenses, such as driving without a license.
“Jails and police departments play a key role in criminalizing immigration by detaining people until ICE agents can make an arrest,” the group says.
The level of cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration agents greatly varies. Some states or cities prohibit law enforcement from sharing information or coordinating with ICE. However, hundreds of law enforcement agencies are part of the federal 287(g) program which deputizes state and local officers to act as immigration agents. The number of participating agencies has skyrocketed under Trump. As of June 30, 875 law enforcement agencies had joined the program, up from 135 in December of 2024.
In addition to feeding people into the deportation system, local jails also lease beds to ICE, the U.S. Marshals Service, or both. PPI found that in 25 states, the only bed space available to ICE or the U.S. Marshals Service is in local jails. While sanctuary city policies generally bar cooperation with ICE, they often permit contracts with the U.S. Marshals Service, which, under Trump, plays a critical role in detaining thousands of immigrants. The U.S. Marshals Service has contracts with almost 1,000 jails, according to PPI.
PPI says that from January through June, federal prosecutors charged thousands of people with criminal immigration offenses. This led to the pretrial detention of almost 20,000 people. For criminal immigration charges, the U.S. Marshals Service, not ICE, would be responsible for the person’s incarceration, thereby circumventing local jurisdictions’ bans on cooperating with ICE.
“ICE and other federal agencies can refer people for federal prosecution on immigration-related ‘crimes’ and thus use contracted local jails in sanctuary cities, counties, and states,” the report says. “In doing so, the Trump administration is transforming what are normally civil immigration matters into more serious federal crimes. This shift hides the true scale of immigrant detention from public view, which is often reported as only those in ICE custody and does not include those facing criminal prosecution.”
According to PPI, people detained pretrial on criminal immigration charges, as well as those held on ICE detainers or in overnight hold rooms, are not included in ICE detention data, which recorded about 57,000 people held on average in June. However, PPI estimates that more than 80,000 people are detained in the “crimmigration system.”
The group urges local governments to protect community members by refusing to contract with all federal agencies, not just ICE.
“Via their jails, local governments are — intentionally or not — providing the infrastructure for a massive attack on immigrants,” PPI said in a press release announcing the report. “But by resisting cooperation with President Trump’s racist deportation machine, counties and states also have the power to contain it.”
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