Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has published a planning document proposing to subsidise personal liability insurance for local police officers deputised under its 287(g) programme, covering up to $500,000 in personal liability per officer. US News reported the proposal on 17 August 2026.
The 287(g) programme takes its name from a section of the 1996 Immigration and Nationality Act. It allows the federal government to train and deputise local law enforcement officers to carry out immigration enforcement functions. Historically, the programme was used mainly to process immigrants already held in local jails. Under the Trump administration's second term, it has been expanded into active street-level enforcement.
Under the insurance proposal, officers would be reimbursed up to $250 annually — approximately the expected cost of the insurance. ICE is seeking industry feedback and plans to hire a contractor to select the insurance vendor and process reimbursements. No launch timeline has been announced and the total cost of the programme is not yet known.
More than 1,700 local law enforcement agencies now participate in the 287(g) programme since President Trump returned to office, according to NPR. The share of people detained through any type of 287(g) programme rose to about 10 percent in January 2026, up from about 3 percent a year earlier, the New York Times reported.
The insurance proposal sits atop a substantial existing package of financial inducements. Participants in the 287(g) Task Force Model are offered a one-time payment of $100,000 for new vehicles, $7,500 in equipment funds per certified officer, full salary and benefits reimbursement for officers doing immigration work full time, and overtime coverage for up to 25 percent of an officer's salary.
ICE also promotes the possibility of bonuses tied to the number of undocumented individuals an officer locates. NPR described this as akin to a bounty system. The immigration advocacy organisation FWD.us estimated that ICE paid or earmarked more than $170 million in incentives to local law enforcement for the location of undocumented individuals. Florida agencies alone have received nearly $40 million from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). FWD.us estimated that total financial commitments to local police under 287(g) could reach as much as $2 billion in 2026 alone.
Civil liberties critics argue the insurance plan is designed to remove hesitancy among local departments concerned about legal exposure, and that it further shields officers from accountability. David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, said the programme would be 'another way for officers to avoid personal accountability for misconduct' and that ICE is 'going above and beyond to guarantee law enforcement does not have even the slightest risk of liability for violating Americans' rights.'
Existing 287(g) agreements already contain provisions limiting officer exposure. ICE asserts that local officers performing ICE-authorised functions are 'acting under color of federal authority,' a designation that would bar lawsuits against individual officers. Officers facing civil suits can also request representation from the Department of Justice, though the final decision rests with the DOJ.
A separate ICE memo, obtained by the Associated Press, authorises officers to forcibly enter homes using only an administrative warrant — Form I-205 — without a judicial warrant, provided the occupant has a final order of removal. Advocates argue the policy conflicts with Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure. Whether courts will challenge that policy, or the insurance proposal, is not yet known.
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