The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is considering subsidizing civil liability insurance for state and local police authorized to make immigration arrests, a measure aimed at protecting them from potential economic consequences arising from lawsuits related to actions taken during those operations.
The proposal appears in a planning document published on Friday and was revealed this Tuesday by the agency AP.
The plan would benefit trained and authorized officers to enforce federal immigration laws through cooperative agreements with ICE known as 287(g).
According to the project, police officers would acquire a policy with coverage of up to $500,000 in personal liability, typically intended to cover legal expenses, settlements, and court judgments.
ICE would reimburse up to $250 per agent annually, approximately the expected cost of insurance.
Civil lawsuits are the primary concern, especially in light of potential allegations of excessive use of force, wrongful arrests, or unlawful searches and seizures.
However, this type of professional insurance also often helps cover legal expenses when an agent faces a criminal investigation.
The possibility of facing lawsuits has indeed been one of the obstacles preventing some local agencies from participating in immigration tasks.
The policies that cover regular police work do not necessarily protect officers when performing federal duties for ICE, which has forced certain departments to seek additional coverage, highlighted AP.
The initiative has not yet been definitively approved. ICE requested feedback from industry representatives until this Thursday and has not specified when the program could begin or what the total cost would be.
The agency plans to hire a company to manage the outreach, training, and communications related to the 287(g) agreements.
That contractor would also be responsible for hiring the insurance provider and processing the corresponding reimbursements.
David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute and critic of ICE's arrest policies, questioned the initiative considering it would imply an additional protection for agents against potential rights violations.
In contrast, Justin Smith, executive director of the National Sheriffs' Association, deemed the proposal promising in light of local departments' concerns about the risk of facing costly litigation.
The potential financial support comes at a time when local police collaboration with ICE has surged during President Donald Trump's second term.
Currently, nearly 1,600 agencies from 32 states are participating in the task force model, under which trained local agents can interrogate, arrest, and file immigration charges against individuals suspected of being in the United States illegally.
The arrests made through these programs averaged around 3,000 per month during the first two months of 2026, compared to approximately 250 per month in 2024, according to ICE data provided by the Deportation Data Project at the University of California, Berkeley.
The expansion was already visible at the beginning of the year. In February, the number of local agencies collaborating with ICE had increased rapidly, driven also by financial incentives for equipment, vehicles, and overtime.
On its part, Florida has become one of the main stages for that cooperation.
The ICE office in Miami recorded an average of 120 immigration arrests per day in April, while all the sheriffs in Florida's counties maintained active agreements with the agency under the 287(g) program.
The intensification of operations has also had a particular impact on Cuban immigrants.
The arrests of Cubans by ICE increased by 463% between October 2024 and January 2026, according to an analysis by the Cato Institute based on official data.
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