The Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) has filed a lawsuit against President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to make public why the agency halted the 287(g) program that helps take illegal alien child rapists, attempted murderers, assailants, carjackers, and others off the streets.
According to IRLI, in August of last year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials suggested that the agency had halted the 287(g) program in January 2021 after Biden took office with no explanation as to why.
The 287(g) program allows local law enforcement agencies to enter into agreements with ICE to seamlessly identify criminal illegal aliens and turn them over to federal agents for arrest and deportation.
In September 2023, IRLI submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to ICE, asking for all internal communications regarding the agency’s halting of the 287(g) program. The federal government is supposed to answer FOIA requests within 20 business days but as of this week, ICE officials have not responded to the request.
IRLI’s lawsuit seeks to force ICE officials to make public the internal communications to explain why the agency halted the 287(g) program.
“Increased cooperation between ICE and local law enforcement is critical and makes our communities safer, so of course this administration wants to limit that effort,” IRLI Executive Director Dale Wilcox said:
There is no benefit to this country or its legal residents by keeping criminal aliens in the country, yet it appears to be a priority of this White House. The American people own those emails, yet we are not allowed to see them because it might embarrass this administration and expose their extremist agenda. [Emphasis added]
Before Biden’s DHS halted the 287(g) program, 23 new agreements between local law enforcement agencies and ICE were set to take effect but were stopped. Today, ICE has 287(g) agreements with nearly 140 law enforcement agencies across the United States.
“It is ironic that the Biden administration insists it is ‘the most transparent in history’ when, in reality, it has repeatedly attempted to change immigration laws without congressional authorization and then tried to hide the evidence of its misdeeds from the American public,” IRLI Director of Investigations Matt O’Brien said.
“IRLI hopes to bring the details of the ‘287(g) hold’ into the sunshine, even if it must fight to do so,” O’Brien continued.
The case is Immigration Reform Law Institute v. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, No. 1:24-cv-106 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
