The Overlooked Power to Enlist Local Cops for Immigration Enforcement
A tool that needs some polishing — and updating
By Andrew R. Arthur on January 1, 2025
In the talk about what immigration enforcement will look like under a second Trump administration, one key provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) has been overlooked: section 103(a)(10). It allows the executive branch to authorize state and local cops to perform “any of the powers . . . or duties conferred or imposed by” the INA. It’s apparently never been used — but that doesn’t mean it can’t be. Of course, some questions need to be answered first, and some regulations need a little updating to reflect all the changes in the law over the past two decades.
Reference to the “Attorney General” in Section 103(a)(10) of the INA
If you’re familiar with immigration enforcement today, you’ll likely know what some of those questions are by reading the specific language of the provision. Here’s the current text:
In the event the Attorney General determines that an actual or imminent mass influx of aliens arriving off the coast of the United States, or near a land border, presents urgent circumstances requiring an immediate Federal response, the Attorney General may authorize any State or local law enforcement officer, with the consent of the head of the department, agency, or establishment under whose jurisdiction the individual is serving, to perform or exercise any of the powers, privileges, or duties conferred or imposed by this chapter or regulations issued thereunder upon officers or employees of the Service. [Emphasis added.]
For reasons I’ll explain below, the INA often refers to the “attorney general” — head of the Department of Justice (DOJ) — when describing powers and duties now exercised by the secretary of Homeland Security (DHS secretary), and sometimes it uses the term to describe immigration powers specifically reserved to the attorney general and DOJ.
https://cis.org/Arthur/Overlooked-Power-Enlist-Local-Cops-Immigration-Enforcement
