Gov. Brad Little said Idaho State Police is helping ICE. He left out key info

Carolyn Komatsoulis, Idaho Statesman on Aug 7, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Gov. Brad Little announced in June that the Idaho State Police agreed to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement transport some immigrants out of state. Idaho will participate in what’s called a “Jail Enforcement Model,” his office said in a news release, designed to identify and process only undocumented immigrants who have already been arrested.

In reality, the Idaho State Police had signed an agreement with ICE to join what’s called a “Task Force Model,” a controversial program that lets local police question people on the street about their immigration status.

While both the jail enforcement and task force models fall under what’s known as a 287(g) agreement, which allows local police to collaborate with ICE detentions, the Task Force Model is a more aggressive form of immigration enforcement to identify immigrants unauthorized to live in the U.S. who haven’t been detained. Former Democratic President Barack Obama, in 2012, got rid of the model after racial profiling concerns.

The Governor’s Office didn’t immediately answer why it initially named the wrong program it was participating in.

“We have updated the news releases on the website to correct the information about the model being utilized,” said Emily Callihan, a spokesperson for Little, said in an email to the Idaho Statesman.

The governor’s direction to state police, only to transport “the most violent and dangerous illegal aliens,” hasn’t changed, Callihan wrote to the Statesman.

Little announced Thursday that state police for the first time transported undocumented immigrants from a local jail to an “ICE-approved detention facility,” and listed three immigrants with criminal backgrounds and included their mugshots. Two of the men had committed violent crimes, domestic violence battery and assault, while the third was convicted of drug crimes. /

Two of the people transported were detained at the Elmore County Jail, according to an online ICE detainee locator. The Governor’s Office declined to allow the Statesman to observe the transport, citing security reasons.

Little has aligned himself with Republican President Donald Trump on immigration priorities and said that “open border policies” have hurt Idaho. He signed an immigration order in February to “reinforce Trump’s immigration policies.” That order said state law enforcement agencies must consider partnerships like the 287(g) agreement with ICE.

“Idaho is stepping up to help the Trump administration transport dangerous illegal alien criminals to ICE facilities instead of being released back into our communities,” he said in the news release Thursday. “These are people who pose the greatest danger to Idaho families.”

But 287(g) agreements backfired in Arizona and North Carolina after police discriminated against Latinos, according to the American Immigration Council. In Arizona, the Department of Justice fielded allegations that Arizona deputies stopped people on the basis of their appearance, according to a DOJ memo. In one North Carolina county, Latino drivers were four to 10 times more likely to be stopped and faced harsher penalties, according to the DOJ and the immigration council.

Immigration powers have historically fallen to the federal government. The Task Force Model is supposed to be a “force multiplier” by allowing local police some immigration authority, according to ICE. The model “expands ICE’s enforcement operations in the community,” according to the America First Policy Institute, a right-wing think tank. It also gives local police the “broadest authority,” the policy institute said.

Critics say the Task Force Model in particular can hurt immigrants from just a small encounter with police, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Partnerships between ICE and local police can also hurt community trust, the executive director of the ACLU of Idaho, Leo Morales, previously told the Statesman.

“The role of state police should be to serve and protect the public — not to act as immigration agents for a broken federal deportation system,” said Estefanía Mondragón in June, executive director of PODER of Idaho, a local group dedicated to immigrant and Latino communities.