Bexar County law enforcement agencies now have formal authority to assist in federal immigration enforcement through new agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
While the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office entered into the most limited form of cooperation tied to jail operations, two other agencies — the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Precinct 3 Constable’s Office — have adopted the most expansive version of the federal program, which authorizes trained officers to assist with immigration enforcement in the field.
A fourth agency, the Balcones Heights Police Department, is pursuing a similar agreement.
These agreements fall under a federal program known as 287(g), a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1996 that allows ICE to train and authorize state and local law enforcement officers to assist with certain immigration enforcement functions. Participation in the program is voluntary at the federal level and the scope of authority granted to local agencies depends on the type of agreement they enter into.
While the agreements have existed for decades, they gained renewed attention nearly a year ago, when President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to expand the use of 287(g) partnerships “to the maximum extent permitted by law.” The order did not require state or local agencies to participate, but it signaled a federal push to increase cooperation with local law enforcement.
In a press release dated Sept. 2, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced 287(g) partnerships increased 609%—from 135 agreements to 958 since the Trump Administration took over. As of Dec. 30, the number has jumped to 1,275 signed memorandum of agreements, according to ICE.
At the state level, Governor Greg Abbott signed his own executive order shortly after President Trump’s, directing “all appropriate state agencies to assist federal actors working under the direction of the Trump Administration with carrying out functions under federal immigration laws, including investigating, apprehending, detaining, and removing illegal aliens found in Texas.”
Texas lawmakers followed with the passing of Senate Bill 8, which went into effect on Thursday, Jan. 1. The law requires most county sheriffs — and any agency operating a jail on a county’s behalf — to request and enter into a 287(g) agreement by Dec. 1, 2026. It applies only to sheriffs and jail-operating agencies and does not extend to municipal police departments, constables or the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Even so, several agencies operating in Bexar County have opted into the program ahead of that deadline — in some cases without any legal requirement to do so.
The agreements
ICE currently operates three primary 287(g) models used by local agencies. The most limited version focuses on cooperation inside jails, allowing officers to serve ICE administrative warrants or identify individuals already in custody for potential detention or removal.
The most expansive version — known as the task force model — authorizes trained officers to assist ICE during field operations, rather than limiting immigration enforcement to custodial settings. A fourth option, the tribal task force model, applies only to tribal law enforcement agencies and is not used in Bexar County.
For sheriff’s offices that operate jails, participation in 287(g) can be limited to custodial settings or expanded into field enforcement, depending on the model selected. Agencies that do not operate jails — including municipal police departments, constables and DPS — do not have that option and may participate only through the task force model if they choose to enter the program.
The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office entered into a warrant service officer agreement in late October, this agreement applies only to people already in custody at the county jail. Under that framework, select deputies who are trained are authorized to serve ICE administrative warrants, but are not empowered to conduct immigration enforcement during routine patrols or traffic stops.
Elsewhere in the county, DPS and the Precinct 3 Constable’s Office entered into their own agreements under the task force model, the only option available to non jail operating entities.
Precinct 3: Formalizing existing cooperation
Precinct 3 Constable Mark Vojvodich said his office entered into a 287(g) agreement to formalize cooperation with ICE that was already occurring during routine work, rather than to expand immigration enforcement into new areas.
“Well we’ve always cooperated with ICE. In our normal duties, if we run across somebody that we arrest for some other felony or for another offense, we automatically would notify ICE on that, “ he said. ”So we formalized that agreement for anybody that has a criminal history or is additionally wanted.”
Vojvodich also pointed to potential federal reimbursement as a factor in formalizing the agreement. Under the program, agencies may receive federal funding tied to officer training and certain arrests made in conjunction with regular duties, though funding levels depend on federal appropriations and program rules.
“The incentives are pretty much per officer, and then as long as they have one arrest, in conjunction with their regular duties, the financial incentives can be up to $300,000 for any precinct that’s involved,” he said.” Hundreds of precincts across Texas have already been doing so. I’ve gotten calls from a couple of them, where they train their officers and have very minimal participation. Then they had a case where they had a referral, and the federal government wrote them a check for nearly $300,000.”
In September, DHS announced additional incentives utilizing funds from the One Big Beautiful Bill that would allow ICE to fully reimburse participating agencies for the annual salary and benefits of each eligible trained 287(g) officer to include up to 25% of the officer’s annual salary in overtime funds. Additional quarterly monetary performance awards are also offered.
Despite the incentives, Vojvodich emphasized that the constable’s office would not be independently seeking out immigration violations and does not plan to dedicate officers solely to immigration enforcement. Instead, he said, the agreement applies only when immigration issues arise during arrests already made for other reasons.
“We’re not actually out looking independently for an ICE detainer or an ICE warrant,” he said. “It’s just what we run across in our normal duties.”
Vojvodich said the agreement gives participating agencies discretion in how they apply the authority and that his office intends to limit its involvement to custodial arrests tied to existing warrants or criminal cases.
“I’m not going to take two officers and say, ‘You’re going to give me 40 hours a week of ICE enforcement,’” he said. “That’s not going to happen.”
The constable said the office’s primary responsibilities — including serving court orders, executing warrants and handling family violence cases — would remain unchanged.
Vojvodich said the agreement was not vetted through county leadership before submission but has been shared with the precinct’s county commissioner Grant Moody.
Moody said he supports the decision.
“I fully support the Precinct 3 Constable’s Office opting into ICE’s 287(g) program. Local law enforcement should always work in good faith with our federal law enforcement partners. Period. Full stop,” he wrote in a statement. “I call on the Bexar County Sheriff, San Antonio Police Department and other Constables to commit to the same if they haven’t done so already.”
Training has not yet begun, Vojvodich said that only officers with more than two years of experience would receive the training but did not provide the total number by time of publication.
DPS and Balcones Heights
The Texas Department of Public Safety, which operates statewide and patrols major highways and roadways throughout Bexar County with over 4,700 commissioned officers on the force, entered into the task force model towards the beginning of November. The extent of cooperation and amount of officers trained to do enforcement across their criminal investigations division and highway patrol divisions has not been made public at the time of publishing.
The San Antonio Report reached out to the DPS regarding the extent of its cooperation but has not received a response at the time of publication.
ICE maintains publicly available spreadsheets listing all participating agencies, the cooperation model and the date it entered the agreement. It also maintains a list of all pending applications, as of Dec. 30 there were 22 pending applications, including an application from the Balcones Heights Police Department, a small municipal agency in northwest San Antonio.
Balcones Heights PD is seeking to enter into the task force model agreement, the department consists of 26 sworn officers covering a municipality consisting of less than one square mile. In response to a request for an interview regarding questions about the pending application, department officials said they are working to identify a spokesperson to address questions but had not responded as of publication.
The San Antonio Report reached out to DHS about the pending agreement with Balcones Heights PD and the current agreement with the Precinct 3 Constables; DHS did not address the specifics of either agreement.
Instead, Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs for DHS provided a statement rejecting criticisms of the 287(g) program and disputing claims that it encourages racial profiling, while promoting the program’s nationwide expansions.
Civil liberties advocate groups like the American Civil Liberties Union have raised concerns about the expansion of 287(g) agreements nationwide, particularly surrounding the task force model.
In a September analysis, Naureen Shah, director of government affairs for the ACLU’s Equality Division, warned that expanded use of 287(g) can blur the line between local policing and federal immigration enforcement. She argued that the program diverts officers from local public safety work and erodes trust between law enforcement and immigrant communities.
Shah wrote that participation in the program can make residents less likely to report crimes or cooperate with police, pointing to past lawsuits involving unlawful detention and racial profiling tied to similar agreements.
In Bexar County, where more than 30 law enforcement agencies operate across overlapping jurisdictions, the expansion of 287(g) agreements means immigration enforcement authority now varies depending on which agency initiates an encounter.
As state mandates approach and federal reimbursement programs remain available, immigration enforcement in the county and the state will continue evolving as local agencies decide whether and how to participate.
