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Arkansas Guards Can Now Work as Immigration Enforcers
Loaded on Jan. 1, 2026
published in Prison Legal News
January, 2026, page 37
Filed under:
Staff Training,
Enforcement of Immigration Laws,
Execution,
Detention - Generally,
Authority and Jurisdiction.
Location:
Arkansas.
On December 2, 2025, the Arkansas Department of Corrections (DOC) signed a Memoranda of Agreement (MOA), also known as 287(g) agreements, with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), allowing the federal agency to train guards and give them the power to act as immigration enforcers. Although the guards’ immigration enforcement functions are limited, they will have the ability to interrogate immigration detainees, execute warrants, issue immigration detainers, and use the Department of Homeland Security and ICE databases.
The Arkansas DOC signed two MOAs, allowing the state to participate in the Warrant Service Office model and the Jail Enforcement model; the former allows state law enforcement to execute warrants against detainees identified by ICE, while the the latter expands local authority to give guards free reign to interrogate any person they believe to be undocumented and turn them over to ICE. As of this writing, the DOCs of eleven other states–Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia–have formed similar agreements with ICE. This list does not include 1,255 MOAs in 40 states that ICE has signed, the majority of which are not with state-level agencies but local sheriffs’ departments and county jails.
Sources: KNWA, KATV
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