Parker County deportations to become more ‘efficient’ under new ICE agreements
.png "Parker County law enforcement agencies have signed additional agreements with ICE in March and April 2026.")
Law enforcement agencies in a growing Texas county have been ramping up cooperation with ICE, with the district attorney’s office most recently signing an agreement in hopes of making deportations more “efficient.”
Weeks after the Parker County Sheriff’s Office entered into an additional agreement with ICE under the 287(g) program, the Parker County Attorney’s Office and the Parker County District Attorney’s Office received approval from county commissioners to sign agreements under the same program. The county attorney’s office received approval from commissioners April 13, and the district attorney’s office received approval April 27.
“To be part of this kind of cooperative agreement will allow us to deal with some of our offenders that are illegal aliens, and even in some situations where they’re actually here legally but have committed felony offenses, and so that’ll allow for greater coordination … so that not only can we hold them accountable in the justice system, but once convicted, they will be able to be deported from our country more efficiently,” Parker County District Attorney Jeff Swain said.
ICE’s 287(g) program was created in the 1990s and has long allowed local law enforcement agencies to partner with the federal agency under different models. While the Parker County Sheriff’s Office has partnered with ICE since 2025, the ICE partnership is new for the county and district attorney’s offices, according to Swain. Senate Bill 8, which took effect in 2026, now requires all Texas sheriff’s offices in counties that operate a jail to enter into agreements with ICE.
“We only have three DA investigators,” Swain added. “None of our investigators speak Spanish. It would certainly help to have a person who speaks Spanish to come with us. It’s not someone we would have to hire … We can just get a hold of one of our ICE contacts.”
At the same time Parker County law enforcement is moving to beef up its immigration enforcement abilities through ICE cooperation, large Texas cities across the state have been grappling with the state’s response to their attempts to put limits on how local law enforcement can perform immigration enforcement under ICE agreements. Houston, Austin and Dallas have recently taken a step back on those attempts after Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to withhold hundreds of millions in public safety grants. In Parker County, the ICE agreements have not been met with much pushback at all.
Commissioners on Monday unanimously approved Swain’s request for his office to sign the agreement. Swain said the agreement will train investigators with his office on the “rules and regulations and laws that ICE handles on their end.”
“This is the same agreement that the sheriff’s office pursued, since we have been going out and actively pursuing absconders, individuals with warrants,” said Parker County Attorney John Forrest at commissioners court April 13. “We occasionally run across individuals that are illegal in the U.S based on warrants, and if we’re able to bring an individual in, we can get the same stoppings that they would get.”
As “immigration situations have come up,” Swain said, his office has struggled to find a direct contact with ICE. The partnership, which an ICE 287(g) officer informed Swain of, will give the county and district attorney’s offices direct points of contact with ICE. The 287(g) agreements also come with stipends for law enforcement agencies that sign them, meaning the district attorney’s office will receive funding from ICE to cover any expenses related to the agreement, Swain said. The amount of that funding, or what it will be used for, is not yet known, Swain said.
