Efforts by President Trump and his team now include asking for support from state and local law enforcement officers to help arrest and deport noncitizens staying in the country without permission. Many sheriffs across the United States have welcomed this request eagerly.
These sheriffs say they are pleased to work closely with the Trump administration again, especially after what they described as four years of being sidelined under the Biden administration.
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Still, the sheriffs say this cooperation cannot happen without financial support. They are asking for enough funding to help cover the cost of moving their limited local resources toward what is mainly a federal duty.
According to Jim Skinner, the sheriff of Collin County in Texas, it’s already understood that the federal government must bring serious financial backing to support this work.
Who Pays for the Immigration Crackdown?
No one has said yet where the money will come from. What is clear is that the sheriffs would only form a part of a wider federal push to address immigration violations. For that kind of effort, new funding will be required, especially since the Trump administration has promised to cut government spending. Tom Homan, who now serves as Trump’s lead advisor on immigration matters, estimates that mass deportation could cost around $86 billion.
Although Trump’s team is asking law enforcement agencies across the country for help, sheriffs seem to be the first choice. Since they are elected by voters, they usually have more independence than police chiefs and manage thousands of local jails.
Sheriffs’ offices typically receive funding from their county governments, and their budgets are often tight. While some offices may receive more funds than others, the general situation is that most operate on limited resources. That makes it harder for them to take on new responsibilities, especially during financial strain.
This has led some sheriffs to explain that they do not have enough officers to spare. Others have pointed out that certain state or local laws prevent them from working directly with federal immigration officers.
Budgets Already Feeling the Pressure
In Michigan’s Jackson County, which has close to 160,000 residents, the sheriff’s office recently lost funding for six deputies. Sheriff Gary R. Schuette said Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not yet asked for help from his office, but if they do, it would mean paying overtime to a deputy.
Sheriff Schuette mentioned via email that his current budget, which began on January 1, has enough overtime allowance to offer some help when needed. But if requests become frequent, he would need to reassess whether his office can keep up.
Right now, there is no federal funding directly assigned to cover what local police departments spend on this kind of cooperation. There is one grant program meant to reimburse local jails for housing noncitizens, but sheriffs’ associations argue that it doesn’t fully cover the expenses.
During Trump’s earlier term, he attempted to remove this grant entirely. It remains unclear whether his current administration will make the same move.
Federal Expectations Still Unclear
So far, Trump officials have not given detailed instructions about what they expect from sheriffs, apart from general cooperation. This includes letting Immigration and Customs Enforcement have access to local jails, sharing information about undocumented inmates, and offering short-term holding cells.
But if the agency asks for someone to be held longer than required, sheriffs may start to face extra costs, depending on their county’s rules and how involved ICE wants to be.
Sheriff Garry McFadden of Mecklenburg County in North Carolina shared that his office is already feeling the weight of additional costs after just two months of cooperating with ICE on noncitizen inmates. The county serves around 1.1 million people.
He explained that each time his jail keeps someone for two more days at ICE’s request, it costs the office $360. Between December 1 and February 10, ICE made this kind of request 83 times. That adds up to around $30,000 in extra expenses, McFadden said.
He also mentioned that ICE never showed up to collect any of the detainees that they requested be held longer. The agency did not respond when asked about this.
His office’s cooperation with ICE is now required by a new state law. However, this law does not explain how the costs will be covered. McFadden added that while working with ICE is important, it also takes money from his office’s budget.
Public Safety Still a Driving Force
Sheriffs have been vocal for years about needing tougher enforcement of immigration rules and tighter control at the border. Many say their main concern is protecting the public from violent crime and illegal drugs.
Sheriff Bob Gualtieri of Pinellas County in Florida expressed that most people would agree that anyone living in the country illegally and causing harm through serious crimes should be removed.
Many sheriffs were deeply disappointed during the last four years, especially as the number of migrants entering the U.S. through the southern border grew. When they reached out to the Biden administration, they said their efforts to meet with officials were ignored.
That experience stood in sharp difference to how they were treated during Trump’s earlier term. Sheriff Kieran Donahue of Canyon County in Idaho recalled attending a meeting at the White House in 2018, where Vice President Mike Pence welcomed them, and President Trump also made a surprise appearance.
Although the Biden White House did not give a direct answer about their level of communication with sheriffs, some were invited to speak with the head of the Domestic Policy Council last spring. But Jonathan Thompson, head of the National Sheriffs’ Association, described the meeting as feeling more like a formality.
Trump Team Rebuilds Relationships with Sheriffs
After Trump won re-election, his team resumed talks with sheriffs, asking what kind of support they needed and how the administration could assist them with immigration enforcement.
Jonathan Thompson said the Trump team was now listening instead of giving orders, and he found that approach very encouraging. That effort to rebuild trust has already begun to pay off.
ICE is currently trying to increase its detention capacity. Some sheriffs are offering space in their jails when they have extra beds.
Sheriff Jeff Gahler of Harford County, Maryland, whose county lies just outside Baltimore and has about 260,000 residents, said the issue at hand is about protecting the public.
In 2022 and 2023, his county dealt with two cases where local women were murdered by people who were not legally in the country. Even though analysts say crime rates among undocumented immigrants are usually low, high-profile cases like the ones in Harford County often revive public debates about stricter immigration policies.
Gahler made it clear that financial gain is not what motivates his cooperation with ICE. His team has worked with ICE daily for about 10 years. Every week, an ICE officer is assigned to their detention center. The cost of this arrangement, he said, is small. His office also does not frequently receive requests to hold inmates past their scheduled release, maybe just one per week at most.
Cooperation Not Always Feasible for Every Sheriff
But things are different in places where such requests come in regularly. In those counties, the pressure can be far heavier, both in terms of cost and staff.
Sheriff Donahue explained that helping ICE in certain ways requires long, in-person training sessions that take his officers away from their regular duties.
He added that his staff already have a full workload dealing with crime in their area. Donahue said his agency helps by informing ICE when someone booked into jail says they do not have legal status in the country.
Once that happens, his staff send a short email to ICE with that information. He concluded by saying that after that email, whatever happens next is ICE’s responsibility.
