Florida International University finalizes agreement to assist ICE

MIAMI — Florida International University Police has finalized its agreement to assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which will deputize members of its staff to act as federal immigration officials. FIU is among 13 Florida university police departments that now have a finalized 287(g) agreement signed both by the university and ICE.

All 13 universities have signed on to ICE’s “Task Force Model,” the most expansive version of the 287(g) agreement. It gives trained officers the authority to enforce federal immigration law — including the ability to arrest individuals for immigration violations and access federal databases.

The other universities with finalized 287(g) agreements are:

—Florida A&M University

—Florida Gulf Coast University

—Florida Polytechnic University

—Florida SouthWestern State College

—Florida State University

—New College of Florida

—Northwest Florida State College

—Tallahassee Community College

—University of Central Florida

—University of Florida

—University of North Florida

—University of West Florida

The decision to enter FIU into the agreement was made by the university police chief, Alexander Casas. He said he felt it was in the best interest of the university and its students to formalize a relationship with ICE, giving FIU police more control over how immigration enforcement is handled on campus.

FIU President Jeanette Nuñez told faculty during a meeting that she supported Casas’ decision.

It is not legally required for university police to enter 287(g) agreements. However, Gov. Ron DeSantis has publicly encouraged all law enforcement agencies in Florida to sign on. With the addition of these university police departments, Florida now has more finalized 287(g) agreements than any other state, followed by Texas. A total of 306 agencies nationwide have signed on.

FIU Police will soon have more authority

In an interview with the Miami Herald in June — before the agreement was finalized — Casas said immigration enforcement is clearly a law enforcement priority at both the state and national level. He said he chose to sign on to support that priority, likening immigration to any other enforcement issue, such as “a traffic initiative, fentanyl, [or] human trafficking.”

Although FIU police officers have not yet begun the required 50-hour online training — and there is no set timeline for when it will begin — Casas confirmed that once trained, officers will be able to make arrests if they have probable cause.

Casas acknowledged that determining probable cause for immigration enforcement “really is a case-by-case thing, because the devil is in the details.”

“The judicial standard, which is what we have to adhere to,” he said, “is you have to have a set of facts that would make a reasonable person believe that a crime occurred and that this person committed that crime.”

FIU’s relationship with ICE

FIU police and ICE had not previously operated under a formal agreement, but they have collaborated in the past. Casas said that if ICE came onto campus with a judicial warrant, his officers would assist in locating the individual and ensuring that the interaction remained calm and safe.

Casas said he can only recall two times in his 14-year tenure at FIU when ICE agents came onto campus.

Historically, if FIU officers discovered that someone they were investigating had an immigration issue, they would notify ICE and allow federal agents to handle it. But officers did not have access to immigration databases or the authority to act independently.

“If this is going to be something that may happen more frequently,” Casas said, “it’s a good idea to have it codified, to be very clear, to establish indemnity and you know, who’s responsible for what.”

“Rather than, ‘Hey, do me a favor. Can you help me out?’ And if it doesn’t turn out right? ‘Oh, well, no, you’re responsible. No, you’re responsible,’” he added.

Once trained, FIU officers will gain access to a federal immigration database. This will allow them to check a person’s visa status or see if there is a deportation order, even if there is no existing warrant in the state’s criminal system.

Previously, if an FIU officer ran a criminal history check, which Casas said his officers always did, a persons’ immigration status or visa status would not show up unless they had a warrant for arrest.

“It wouldn’t show up if they were just undocumented, if they were completely under the radar,” said Casas.

Casas has emphasized that the new agreement is primarily about clarifying responsibilities, not about radically changing the department’s behavior. FIU will decide how many officers to train, and the agreement does not mandate that police participate in every ICE operation.

“The only thing I can see different now is they may say, hey, go do it, and we can. We don’t have to just assist,” Casas said.

In some cases, he said, FIU officers could follow through on deportation orders without ICE being physically present — for instance, by transporting someone to a detention facility.

Controversy on campus

Since its establishment in 1996, civil rights advocates and researchers have documented that the 287(g) program often targets individuals with little or no criminal history and strains the relationship between police and immigrant communities.

Maintaining trust with students has long been a goal of Casas. In May, he has addressed the topic publicly at a town hall and at a faculty senate meeting.

Still, opposition to the agreement at FIU and other universities has been vocal and growing. Students and faculty have organized protests, rallies, social media campaigns, and public meetings to demand that their police departments withdraw from the agreement.

Dariel Gomez, a senior at FIU, has been vocal in his opposition to the agreement and is concerned that students may be falsely arrested and end up at the new detention facility in the Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

“We have not been reassured that this won’t be happening,” said Gomez.

This week, a DACA recipient, now in his early 30s, who has been in the United States for 20 years, was detained at Alligator Alcatraz.

But Casas, whose family is from Cuba, has given students and faculty some reassurance.

“Our approach is just usually a little more understanding of our community,” he said.