Harford County Sheriff's Office:287(g) Program - Harford County Sheriff's Office

Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act was added in 1996 to authorize the Attorney General to delegate federal immigration authorities to state and local law enforcement officers. This authority was later transferred to the Secretary of Homeland Security.

Memorandum of Agreement

Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler signed this agreement with the Federal Government during the Obama Administration on October 26th 2016.

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Statement from Sheriff Gahler

Recently, there has been much speculation and many false statements made about our Delegation of Immigration Authority, Section 287(g) program. These deceptive comments, shared by those absent a legitimate factual argument, are meant to scare our citizens and promote an agenda that is 100% inaccurate. To clear the record and ensure everyone has accurate facts, I offer the following information related to this important public safety initiative in Harford County.

The 287(g) program, an important part of the Harford County Sheriff’s Office’s efforts to make our communities safer, is designed to give specially trained correctional deputies delegated authority for immigration enforcement in our Detention Center. Specially trained correctional deputies screen all persons charged with a crime and who are processed at the detention center. Those identified to have committed crimes in our County and who are not in the country legally are accepted for further investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Those individuals who are identified by ICE as a priority for removal must first serve the sentence for the crime they have committed in Harford County prior to being turned over for deportation.

There has been, and will continue to be, no hesitation on the part of the Sheriff’s Office to share with the citizens of Harford County our involvement in the 287(g) program and to do so in a transparent manner. In fact, I have openly discussed the program and its successes locally, regionally and nationally and will continue to do so. A few short weeks ago, I held an open forum to discuss the 287(g) program with our community. The event was publicly advertised, but surprisingly none of the naysayers attended nor cared to take the opportunity to participate in meaningful discourse, but now feel it appropriate to spew negative and inaccurate information to further their deceptive agenda.

It is important to note, that the 287(g) program is operated from within the Correctional Services Bureau and solely by career correctional deputies. The program is not part of the job responsibilities for any of our law enforcement deputies. These two job classifications are separate and distinct. To mix the two would be like blaming your proctologist for a bad dental checkup. Both a doctor and a dentist are health care professionals, but their roles and functions are not interchangeable. This distinction is true of our correctional deputies and law enforcement deputies, two separate and distinct job classifications, each vital to public safety, however, not interchangeable.

Those who want to deal in fear and embrace the sanctuary community concept know this, but continue to purposefully feed false “facts.” Furthermore, those who claim this program targets or utilizes racial profiling, are unequivocally incorrect. ALL persons, who are charged with a criminal offense in Harford County are screened upon arrival at the Detention Center regardless of race, origin, appearance, or anything else for that matter. Let me reiterate, ALL are screened.

As your Sheriff, I stand by my decision to take part in the 287(g) program. Without question, adding this tool to our crime fighting tool belt helps protect Harford County residents. The ability to detain violent criminals and keep them from re-victimizing the citizens of Harford County is of paramount importance to me. As the chief constitutional law enforcement officer of the County, it is my job to provide for the safety of our citizens and I plan on doing just that through proactive policing, correctional initiatives (like the 287(g) program), and other public safety innovations.