Florida Atlantic University’s Police Department quietly entered into a federal immigration enforcement partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the 287(g) program on July 24 without issuing a campus-wide announcement. The 287(g) program is a partnership that allows ICE to train law enforcement officers to enforce specific federal immigration laws, according to the ICE website. 

ICE Senior Inspections and Compliance Specialist Michael Carpenter confirmed in an Aug. 26 email statement that participation in the 287(g) program is entirely voluntary. However, this statement contrasts with what FAUPD Chief of Police Sean Brammer told the University Press in an Aug. 18 interview, when he said participation was not optional as the agency had to follow the Florida governor’s directive. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a directive urging all state law enforcement agencies on Feb. 19, including campus police, to participate in the program. According to ICE’s website, at least 10 campus police departments in the State University System, including FAUPD, have joined the agency’s 287(g) program. The University of South Florida and Florida State University are not on the “participating” list as of Sept. 9.

The program began in 1996 as part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. However, according to the Library of Congress website, Congress first implemented the 287(g) agreement in 2002 after the law gained new urgency following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

With the 287(g) program, ICE will train FAUPD officers to carry out specific federal immigration enforcement duties. FAUPD’s agreement follows the “Task Force Model,” one of three enforcement structures under the 287(g) program. This model permits trained campus officers to enforce immigration law during routine encounters like traffic stops or patrols, including questioning and detaining individuals suspected of immigration violations, according to the ICE’s website. 

During the August interview, Brammer noted that none of his officers had completed the training. The current protocol is to call ICE to pick up the individual and release them if no agent responds. He added that FAUPD sent information to ICE and is waiting for a response before beginning training. Once they hear back and training is complete, the department will have the authority to transport individuals to the sheriff’s office for ICE to process.

The university’s compliance with the 287(g) agreement has raised concerns among students about their safety, leading to protests on campus opposing the agreement on April 16 and Sept. 5. To clarify the role of trained officers and how the agreement could affect the campus community, Brammer addressed these concerns in an interview with the University Press.

This conversation has been edited for clarity.

Q: Was signing onto this agreement voluntary?

A: When it was voluntary, did we sign it? The answer is “no.” It was out there; we could have signed it, but we didn’t. So now something changed, and what changed is that our governor says that all state law enforcement agencies must sign it. We’re a state law enforcement agency, so we signed it. So it’s not voluntary.

Q: Before signing onto 287(g), how did the FAU Police Department handle encounters with undocumented individuals? 

A: If someone, through a consensual encounter or through a traffic stop, we find out that that person is undocumented, prior to signing the 287(g) agreement, what would happen is we’d call ICE, we say, “ We have someone here who has an administrative warrant, who’s undocumented. Do you have someone who can come pick him up?” And ICE would say, “Yes, we have someone,” or “No, we don’t have anyone in the area.” So what we do is we just conclude our encounter with the person, and then we release them. So ICE now knows that there is a person who is in their general area that FAUPD has come into contact with. 

Q: Does FAUPD actively search for these undocumented students with an administrative warrant? 

A: No, we don’t, it’s just through other interactions. We’re not federal agents. We’re still going to be our community policing officers. We’re not going to knock down doors, we’re not going into dorm rooms. There’s no database that we can run through to find out who is undocumented or not. That’s not our job. Our job is to police our community. 

Even before the 287(g) became an issue, we’d still have to do our jobs as law enforcement. So if we stop someone who is undocumented, we’d go through that process. The only difference that’s changed is that now, if we stop someone or come into contact with someone through our normal procedures at that point in time, we have the ability to transport them.

Q: Do these undocumented individuals, when stopped by FAUPD, have to commit a crime to be transferred to ICE? 

A: No, so if we stop you for a traffic violation, we run you for that traffic violation. If there’s an administrative warrant that comes up, at that point in time, it’s only if there’s an administrative warrant that’s the only way we’re going to know. If there’s an administrative warrant saying that this person has overstayed their visa, they’re undocumented, and all these different things. Then we transport based on that; they don’t have to commit a crime. 

But the important part about this is that if we stop you for a traffic stop, and there is an administrative warrant in there, we can’t transport you. Currently, as it is, we can’t transport, which is why we’d have to pick up the phone and call ICE. 

The only difference is that now that we’re trained, when we get officers trained, the officer can transport at that point in time based on the administrative warrant. But it does not have to be a criminal violation. The criminal violation would be a federal offense where they overstayed a visa or something like that.

Q: How do you respond to students worried about the participation?

A: There’s nothing for them to worry about. We’re not coming to knock on doors. We’re not coming actively looking for students. We’re going to do our jobs, and that’s what we’re going to do. (…) But safety on campus for me is making sure I protect everyone from threats to the student body, whether it’s someone coming in to actively do harm to our students, someone who is disgruntled, or has some form of grievance against the university. That’s what we’re here to do, and to make sure that everyone feels safe. I can only control what I can control.