KALISPELL — The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office re-signed an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2020 — called 287 (g) — which allows the detention center to temporarily hold people who need to be transported to federal facilities.
Sheriff Brian Heino said the agreement is strictly tied to the detention center and does not allow sheriff’s deputies to act as ICE agents in the field. He added that the agreement has been in place for close to 20 years.
“The majority of these discussions when you are talking about 287 (g) is often due to Canada being so close we often dealt with Canadians that were in that portion, not other people from different cultures, it’s a broad topic but again the localized people that we work with every day we have great partnerships with and we continue to support them and work with them,” Heino said.
Watch to learn more about the ICE agreement with Flathead County:
Sheriff Heino said his office partners with multiple federal agencies on crimes such as dangerous narcotics, child pornography, and illegal immigration by temporarily holding federal inmates. He told MTN that they do not house federal inmates on long-term holds.
“Basically, this has always come down to we enforce the law, we protect the constitutional rights of individuals, and we do that and we’ve been doing the same thing for the last 20 years and we maintain that,” Heino said.
Danielle Tuhy, a community organizer with Flathead Democracy, was one of dozens of Flathead residents who recently spoke at a Flathead County commissioners meeting, asking the Sheriff’s Office to cut ties with federal immigration authorities and nullify the 287 (g) agreement.
“One of the main points with that is that (ICE) is currently being trained for 47 days, and anybody that has worked in law enforcement or in the military or even worked with victims or people in mental health will recognize that is a massive lack of training and that puts everybody at risk,” Tuhy said.
Watch related coverage: Debate in Montana emerges locally over ICE, including inside city halls
Tuhy said ICE, as currently constructed, can’t be trusted as fair partners.
“I think people here feel a little bit more insulated against that kind of thing happening here, but the reality is we have border patrol in our backyards and if the sheriffs have this agreement with ICE, they can come here and do the same things,” said Tuhy.
Sheriff Heino said his agency will continue to follow the agreement under the same discretion as years past.
“The capacity of our facility, we have to have the availability and room for the local issues that we have here, but again, if we have an issue with somebody that needs to be retained for a federal transport, we do courtesy holds to assist them,” Heino said.
