Tarrant County to beef up ICE partnership with new state grant
A new grant program is set to begin sending up to $140,000 of state funding to Texas sheriff’s offices that are involved in immigration enforcement, the acting comptroller announced Thursday.
The grant program, funded through state tax dollars, is designed to help counties offset the costs of participating in the federal government’s 287(g) immigration enforcement program, Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock said.
Tarrant County has participated in the program since 2017, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
In order to apply for the money, Tarrant County commissioners will have to pass a resolution allowing the Sheriff’s Office to do so, Hancock said.
“Public safety starts with enforcing the law,” Hancock said at a press conference, flanked by Sheriff Bill Waybourn, County Judge Tim O’Hare and Commissioner Manny Ramirez. “This program supports sheriffs as they work with immigration authorities to remove criminal offenders, maintain order and keep Texas communities safe.”
The grant accompanies Texas’ Senate Bill 8, which requires every county sheriff’s office that operates a jail to enter into a 287(g) agreement.
Acceptable uses for the funds include compensating personnel working under the agreement, paying for reporting and administrative functions, and training and equipment costs, according to a statement from Hancock’s office.
Tarrant County’s current model of the 287(g) program operates inside the jail, Waybourn said, so the increased funding will not mean a visible increase in the presence of ICE agents in the public.
“What it will do is ensure that we have well-trained people, maybe even supervisional folks involved, that we can’t afford in our budget right now,” Waybourn said.
At least 150 of the 254 Texas sheriff’s offices are currently eligible to receive money through the program, according to the comptroller’s office.
Grant amounts are calculated based on the county’s population size at the last U.S. census, and eligible counties may receive up to:
- $80,000 in counties with populations of 99,999 or fewer;
- $100,000 in counties with populations of at least 100,000 and fewer than 499,999;
- $120,000 in counties with populations of at least 500,000 and fewer than 999,999; and
- $140,000 in counties with populations of 1 million or more, according to the comptroller’s office.
When asked whether county officials had considered recent backlash to ICE efforts in Minneapolis, where protests started following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good, Waybourn attributed the incidents to the local police’s refusal to cooperate.
“What you will see here versus that state, is the local police will be cooperating with ICE, and some of those incidents could’ve been curbed if local police had been involved,” Waybourn said. “I think that should be more concerning than anything about those situations.”
Fund disbursement for the program will begin in March, Hancock said.
This story was originally published January 15, 2026 at 4:33 PM.
