The Local Sheriffs Gearing Up to Help Trump Carry Out Mass Deportations

The president-elect plans to give county authorities more power in deportation matters—with rewards for jurisdictions that cooperate, and retribution for those that don’t

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Ohio Sheriff Richard Jones: ‘We’re going to do our part to help get these people out of here that shouldn’t be here.’ Photo: Paul Vernon/AP

By Scott Calvert and Michelle Hackman | Photographs by Rosem Morton for WSJ
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Nov. 28, 2024 9:00 pm ET

FREDERICK, Md.—If President-elect Donald Trump ramps up deportations as promised, he will have a strong ally in Chuck Jenkins, the longtime Republican sheriff of Maryland’s Frederick County.

“I’m willing to support the president 100%,” said Jenkins, 68, gravel-voiced with a gray buzzcut. “I want to do more, within the law.”

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The Local Sheriffs Gearing Up to Help Trump Carry Out Mass Deportations
Story by Scott Calvert, Michelle Hackman • 14h • 10 min read

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The Local Sheriffs Gearing Up to Help Trump Carry Out Mass Deportations
© Paul Vernon/AP

FREDERICK, Md.—If President-elect Donald Trump ramps up deportations as promised, he will have a strong ally in Chuck Jenkins, the longtime Republican sheriff of Maryland’s Frederick County. ... “I’m willing to support the president 100%,” said Jenkins, 68, gravel-voiced with a gray buzzcut. “I want to do more, within the law.” ... That prospect is spreading fear in immigrant circles, advocates say, and drawing mixed views from residents in this growing county, which backed Democrats in the last two presidential elections. But Jenkins, once dubbed among the nation’s 10 toughest immigration sheriffs by Fox News, sees Trump’s imminent return to the White House as a mandate for a more assertive approach.

For local sheriffs who have long talked tough on immigration, their time has come. ... While the incoming Trump administration has spoken about increasing the ranks of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and using the military to turbocharge deportations, one thing is clear: The federal government needs help from local law enforcement in cities and states far from the border to detain and remove people en masse.

Trump’s transition team is already pursuing new spaces they can repurpose into short-term detention centers near large, Democratic-run cities where most immigrants in the country illegally live. It is also weighing a broad mix of changes to give sheriffs more power, with rewards for jurisdictions that cooperate, and financial retribution against those in blue states and cities that hold out, according to people involved in the planning.

To leverage legions of deputies, the Trump’s team is aiming for a “historic” expansion of a federal program that gives sheriffs and other agencies certain ICE powers, said one person involved in transition planning. Under that program, known as 287(g) after the section of law that created it, the team aims to revive a dormant and controversial “task force model,” which until 2012 allowed officers from participating local agencies, during their routine duties, to question and arrest suspected noncitizens in the community on immigration violations. ... Tom Homan, the administration’s incoming border czar and a longtime ICE official, favors the model because it leads to more frequent and visible arrests, which he believes could act as a deterrent to would-be migrants thinking of coming to the U.S., according to people close to him.

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Joel Schectman contributed to this article.

Write to Scott Calvert at scott.calvert@wsj.com and Michelle Hackman at michelle.hackman@wsj.com