Nixa's Police Department will enter into what's known as a 287g agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Nixa's council voted five to one during their meeting Tuesday to enter the agreement, with council member Kelly Morris the only nay vote.
The vote came after over an hour of public input, at times emotional, with occasional laughs breaking the tensions, and questions and answers back and forth between the public, the city and the chief of police.
There were strong reactions from the audience after the vote, including shouting and expletives, some in the crowd could be heard describing the vote as a "shameful action," and saying the council should listen to its constituents.
During discussion before the vote, Nixa's Police Lt. Jason Fleetwood described how the agreement could work in practice. He said they would not be doing random sweeps but would be working with ICE in the context of normal police business where they may on occasion interact with someone in the country illegally, he gave the example of a traffic stop.
"We are going to be placed in contact with a supervisor at the ICE office in Springfield," he explained, "what that is going to facilitate is an interpreter there. We're going to be able to facilitate a phone conversation with that individual and the ICE office. The ICE office will then do their research, and our officers will not make an arrest without the direction of ICE. So, ICE has to approve that arrest. And then even if the arrest is approved, our officers still have discretion as to whether or not they take that enforcement action."
They will be one of many law enforcement agencies in the area with a 287g agreement, including the Christian County Sheriff’s office.
According to the Federal Government, 287g agreements authorize ICE to “delegate state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform specified immigration officer functions under ICE’s direction and oversight.”
There are significant financial incentives for police forces joining ICE's 287g Program under its Task Force Model. Communities that sign up may receive $7,500 for equipment per trained officer, $100,000 for a new vehicle for the department, and the federal government covers salary and benefits during training, including overtime pay. Each designated officer must complete 40 hours of training.