TYLER COUNTY – A new state law, which goes into effect in January, will require counties in Texas to help out in enforcing immigration laws.
Under Senate Bill 8, which passed in the last regular legislative session, the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program called 287(g), which is named for a section in the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, mandates agreements on county sheriffs.
It authorizes ICE to delegate certain federal immigration functions to them and requires a memorandum of agreement with ICE for participation. At present, about a third of Texas’s 254 counties are signed on, according to reports.
Tyler County Sheriff Bryan Weatherford said that his office is currently in the process of officially joining the program, which will help in funding local law enforcement efforts, he said.
“Enforcing the law is nothing new for Tyler County, we have always worked closely with federal, state & local agencies in arresting and housing criminals,” Weatherford said.
The program will offer financial assistance for counties, based on population density. For counties with a population of fewer than 100,000 residents, which Tyler County falls into, there are stipends of $80,000 available from the state comptroller’s office through a grant program to be established. Counties with more than one million residents would not be eligible for the grant funding and expected to pay the 287(g)-related expenses from their own operating budgets.
Under the agreement, there are three models which counties can adopt:
Critics of the ramping up of ICE under the Trump administration, have cited threats to civil liberties, namely a threat to the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, as well as racial profiling.
Weatherford said that in addition to the financial assistance the agreement offers, criminals are not welcome in Tyler County, regardless of race.
“Criminals are aggressively pursued and routinely arrested in Tyler County without regards to race, color or creed,” Weatherford said.
Information from the Texas Immigration Law Council also cites as a concern the potential burden placed on lower-income counties, and the potential for counties to have to raise additional taxes to cover additional costs.
The new law takes effect on Jan. 1, 2026, and compliance is required by Dec. 1, 2026. Annual compliance reports will be required, according to a report from Texas Policy Research, with repercussions from the Attorney General’s office, if compliance is not met from county sherriffs.
