What are the Sanctuary policies that Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE are demanding from Grand Rapids and Kent County? Part I

This is the first in a series that will further examine the various sanctuary policies that Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE are demanding that the City of Grand Rapids and the Kent County Commission adopt. Today I will look at policies prohibiting “287(g)” agreements through which ICE deputizes local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law.

In a recent post from Political Research Associates, they provide important historical context about 287(g).

Historically, ICE’s 287(g) agreements have relied on two frameworks to advance an “attrition through enforcement” strategy that expands the deportation machine. The “Jail Enforcement Model” deputizes law enforcement to act as immigration agents who assess immigration status and cooperate with ICE to send people from the jail to ICE detention. The “Warrant Service Officer” program, added in May 2019, allows state and local officers to serve administrative warrants, thereby arresting people for ICE and turning them over. Both approaches streamlined the process of deporting people who land in county jails, most of which are run by county sheriffs. The logic relied on an assumption that people in county jails were likely guilty of criminal activity. As then-president Barack Obama said in 2014, “If you’re a criminal, you’ll be deported.”

The article goes on to say:

But this year has been a departure from the past two decades—even from the draconian immigration policies of Trump’s first term. DHS has reinstated the so-called 287(g) “task force” agreements, a third, more expansive model that empowers any police officer to detain and arrest people on the street for being potentially deportable immigrants.

Part of the reason why Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE are pushing the City and the County to adopted policies prohibiting “287(g)” agreements is because they both already have a history of cooperating with ICE.

Grand Rapids City officials like to say that their Foreign National’s Policy already prohibits them from cooperating with ICE, but even this policy states:

The policy allows officers to provide assistance to federal immigration authorities when there is an emergency that poses an immediate danger to public safety or federal agents. 

This vague language allows the GRPD to determine what is an emergency or a threat to  public safety. As we have seen in the past in Grand Rapids, these policies can justify all sorts of police repression and cooperation with ICE.

The Kent County Sheriff’s Department had a contract with ICE from 2012 through 2019. It was discovered several years ago that the Kent County Sheriff, Larry Stelma, signed onto a letter from the National Sheriff’s Association (NSA), a letter dated March of 2018,  which said in part:

Congress must act to pass legislation to secure our borders through enforcing immigration laws, tightening border security, support the replacement and upgrades to current barriers and fencing and construction of barriers along the U.S. and Mexico international boundary as requested by those areas where it is needed, suspending and/or monitoring the issuance of visas to any place where adequate vetting cannot occur, end criminal cooperation and shelter in cities, counties, and states, and have zero tolerance and increased repercussions for criminal aliens.

Sadly, today some state and local officials have been enacting policies and giving lawbreakers shelter from being rightfully prosecuted and removed from our communities. In fact, these same laws forbid law enforcement agencies from cooperating with one another, and go as far as forcing the release of dangerous criminals into our communities exposing our citizens and legal residents to be victimized once again.

After a 14 month campaign by Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE, a campaign that got national attention, ICE ended their contract with Kent County in 2019. However, since then it is well documented that the Kent County Sheriff’s Office collaborates with ICE agents by notifying them of undocumented immigrants that were in the Kent County Jail for minor offenses, thus allowing ICE to apprehend them and take them to a detention facility in either Calhoun County or the GEO Group run ICE Detention facility in Baldwin, MI.

Recently the Trump Administration has provided some financial incentives to local police departments around the country to entice them to adopt what is called the 287(g) program, where ICE deputizes local cops to enforcement immigration laws.

The Trump Administration announced:

“Starting October 1, 2025, participating law enforcement will have these reimbursement opportunities,” DHS said in a press release posted today. “ICE will fully reimburse participating agencies for the annual salary and benefits of each eligible trained 287(g) officer, including overtime coverage up to 25% of the officer’s annual salary.”

This offer could certainly be enticing to police departments that are wanting to generate more money for their people, like the Grand Rapids Police Department that is always lobbying for adding more cops.

The Trump Administration announcement also stated:

“Law enforcement agencies will be eligible for quarterly monetary performance awards based on the successful location of illegal aliens provided by ICE and overall assistance to further ICE’s mission to Defend the Homeland:

• 90% – 100% – $1,000 per eligible task force officer
• 80% – 89% – $750 per eligible task force officer
• 70% – 79% – $500 per eligible task force officer.”

A question to ask ourselves is would the Grand Rapids Police Department and/or the Kent County Sheriff’s Department consider taking these incentives?

To date, both Grand Rapids and Kent County have rejected the demands from Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE regarding sanctuary policies, so it stands to reason that they might consider the financial incentives being offered by the Trump Administration. When Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE disrupted a City Commission meeting in late July, the City’s response to was to threaten people with arrest if they did not stop chanting “ ICE and Cops go hand in hand.”

This is exactly why Cosecha and GR Rapids Response to ICE has been pressuring the City of Grand Rapids and the County of Kent to adopt formal sanctuary policies, like prohibiting the 287(g) program, because it would put an end to the GRPD and the Kent County Sheriff’s Department cooperation with ICE in terrorizing immigrants.

In Part II, I will look at policies that would prevent local governments from entering into a contract with the federal government to hold immigrants in detention.