The Aug. 4 agreement reflects a longstanding relationship with ICE that has “ebbed and flowed” over the years according to federal immigration priorities, Sheriff Jared Rigby said.
“The current administration is great to work with,” he said.
President Donald Trump has made deporting immigrants without legal status a central focus of his second term, including through an executive order his first day in office that encouraged local law enforcement agencies to sign agreements with ICE known as 287(g)s.
The agreements authorize local sheriff’s deputies to “perform limited immigration law enforcement functions,” according to an ICE factsheet.
Essentially, that means trained deputies can step in on ICE’s behalf in certain situations.
What is a 287(g)?
The Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office is part of the Warrant Service Officer (WSO) program. It specifically pertains to people in the county jail who are in the U.S. without legal permission, but who were arrested for a reason unrelated to their immigration status.
Once a migrant’s non-immigration charges have been resolved in the local courts, deputies can execute an ICE arrest warrant to transfer them directly into immigration proceedings, according to a sample WSO agreement.
Deputies can also serve warrants of removal, meaning a migrant will be handed over to ICE to be deported. And if ICE asks, local deputies can transport someone arrested because of their immigration status to an ICE detention facility.
There are an estimated 110,000 immigrants without legal status living in Utah, according to a 2024 report from the Pew Research Center.
Kane County Sheriff Tracy Glover is the president of the Utah Sheriffs Association. He explained the surge in 287(g) agreements statewide by saying sheriffs wanted to work more closely with ICE.
“The goal of the sheriffs is just to achieve an efficiency with law enforcement in general – public safety, community safety in general,” he said. “And so, to the extent we can be partners with ICE, I think we're willing to do that on a limited basis.”
Sheriff’s offices in Beaver, Cache, Kane, Sanpete, Tooele, Utah, Washington and Weber counties also have 287(g) agreements with ICE, as does the Utah Department of Corrections.
In Tooele, Utah, Washington and Weber counties, sheriff’s offices have adopted the more aggressive Task Force 287(g) model, which allows deputies to act as immigration officers not only in court or jail but also during their routine duties – including interrogating and arresting people they suspect entered the U.S. without legal permission.
Rigby said the Task Force model and the third type of 287(g) – the Jail Enforcement model – require “huge commitments” from agencies, including longer, out-of-state training programs. He said he’s considered expanding his office’s 287(g), but so far it hasn’t been feasible.
“We’ll have to see what we’re able to do on that, but it’s been good to be involved thus far in the ways that we have been,” he said.
In Summit County, sheriff’s office Chief Deputy Kacey Bates said her agency does not have a 287(g) agreement, nor does it have any plans for one.
“There’s no data that shows a need for this partnership at this time,” she said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Aug. 4.
All law enforcement agencies in Utah cooperate with ICE to a certain extent, according to Summit County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Skyler Talbot.
“Because the sheriff’s office, at this time, isn’t entering into one of these agreements, doesn’t mean that we’re not collaborating in some situations with ICE or any other federal agency,” he said. “We always have done that, and when it’s appropriate, we will continue to do that.”
How do Summit and Wasatch counties work with ICE?
Whenever someone is arrested and booked into the county jail, the county is required to notify immigration officials if it finds that person doesn't have legal permission to be in the U.S.
If someone without legal status is arrested for a local crime, ICE can ask the county jail to hold them for 48 hours after their scheduled release date. That “hold” gives ICE time to initiate immigration proceedings if it chooses. Otherwise, the person is released.
Over 100 people who were in the Summit and Wasatch county jails between September 2023 and late July 2025 have been arrested by ICE.
That’s according to government data provided by ICE in response to Freedom of Information Act records requests made by the Deportation Data Project, a group of researchers and lawyers.
ICE has visited Wasatch County more regularly under the Trump administration, according to Rigby. He estimated immigration officers come to the jail about once a week to take people into custody, whereas in previous years, ICE “hardly ever” stopped by the county.
“We call, they answer,” Rigby said. “When they put a detainer on someone, they come and pick them up quickly thereafter.”
Deportation Data Project numbers show an apparent acceleration this year in the number of people handed into ICE custody from Wasatch Back jails.
From January through June 2024, there were seven ICE arrests from the Wasatch County Jail. During the same period of 2025, there were 53 ICE arrests.
From the Summit County Jail, meanwhile, one person was arrested by ICE during the first six months of 2024. This year, it was four.
The data has some gaps, however: about a quarter of ICE arrest records within the Salt Lake City "area of responsibility" do not include specific site information, such as a county jail.
ICE detention data also provides limited insight into the stories of roughly 80 migrants apprehended from the Summit and Wasatch county jails between September 2023 and late July 2025.
By matching unique identifiers in ICE apprehension data with federal immigration detention center booking records, KPCW found 79 cases with details about criminal charges faced by migrants arrested from the Wasatch Back.
In 20 of those cases, or about 25%, a person either had unspecified pending charges or no criminal convictions listed in the ICE detention data.
Over 25% of the migrants had driving under the influence or another traffic offense listed as their most serious conviction.
Another 14% had a drug- or alcohol-related conviction, such as possessing marijuana, as their most serious offense.
And about 20% of the migrants had been convicted of a violent crime, like physical or sexual assault.
Nationally, NPR reports the most common criminal convictions among people in ICE detention are traffic violations.
Do 287(g) agreements promote public safety?
Rigby said he believes his office takes an even-keeled approach to the issue of immigration in Wasatch County.
“Our office is not in the mode of trying to enforce illegal immigration just for the sake of enforcing illegal immigration,” he said.
He framed the issue in terms of public safety, saying he’s only concerned about serving warrants issued for people who have committed violent crimes.
“The citizens in Wasatch County have the possibility of ICE deporting these individuals or taking whatever action they deem necessary, and that helps us keep our community safe,” he said, “rather than continue to have illegal aliens living here and also be aggressive and violent in breaking the law. That's the alternative.”
Research has repeatedly shown immigrants are less likely than U.S. citizens to commit crimes, as NPR reported last year.
Aaron Welcher is the director of communications for the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah. He pushed back against the idea that the agreements promote public safety.
“It doesn't actually make people safer,” he said. “Doesn't make communities safer, because people are afraid that if they call the police, if they report a crime, that that could lead to them being detained.”
He said the agreements put everyone at risk.
"We know and have seen that 287(g) agreements lead to local departments racially profiling people because they look, sound or [are] suspected of being an immigrant, which is a violation of all of our civil rights and liberties,” he said.
Not all Utahns have welcomed the new partnerships. The Salt Lake Tribune reports dozens of people spoke up during a Utah County Commission meeting in July to protest the Utah County Sheriff’s Office decision to sign a pair of 287(g)s.
Uncertain requirements
In Wasatch County, there was no public hearing prior to the sheriff’s office signing its ICE agreement. Rigby told KPCW he was unaware of the Utah County meeting. He said he’s not aware of any requirement to seek county council approval or public feedback.
Asked on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Aug. 19 about the lack of public hearing, County Manager Dustin Grabau said he was “looking into” the matter.
“I think that’s a good point, and certainly something we’ll be looking into,” he said.
He said he planned to meet with Rigby to learn more about the 287(g).
Glover, the Kane County sheriff, said he notified the Kane County Commission before he signed his own 287(g), and it opted to host a public hearing. But he indicated it was a courtesy, rather than a requirement.
“We work directly for the people. We don't work for the county commissioners,” he said. “But having said that, we try to involve our other elected officials, particularly the legislative body, when we're entering into agreements that could have an impact on the county.”
It is unclear whether Wasatch County taxpayer dollars will go toward the program.
Rigby could not tell KPCW what it would cost to train deputies in the warrant service model. He also did not know whether his office or ICE would be responsible for that price tag.
“I don’t know that answer for sure,” he said.
ICE compensates counties for honoring immigration detainers, but Rigby said it’s “not a money-making thing” – it only covers the costs of keeping a person in jail.
In this new immigration climate, sheriffs insist the way they carry out their work is unchanged.
“Even if we have people that are illegal residing in our communities, [if] they’re a victim of a crime or witness a crime, we still want them to call in without fear of being targeted or picked up or anything like that,” Glover said.
Nevertheless, Welcher, the ACLU spokesperson, said Utahns who are anxious about their immigration status have rights and resources. Know Your Rights videos and articles are available on the ACLU website. It also has a list of legal resources for immigrants.
Locally, the Wasatch Immigration Project offers free or low-cost legal help to immigrants living in the Wasatch Back.
