'No authority to enforce immigration law': Ogden police spell out stance on immigration

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The Ogden Police Department says it doesn't have authority to enforce immigration law.
Ogden officers don't ask for immigration documents or engage in raids based solely on the migratory status of would-be targets.
Several other Utah law enforcement agencies have entered into formal agreements with federal immigration officials.

OGDEN — The Ogden Police Department this week joined other departments around Utah in spelling out its stance on immigration, saying it doesn't intend to unduly single out immigrants.

"OPD has no authority to enforce immigration law. Our focus is on criminal conduct, not immigration status," reads a post on the department's Facebook page.

Local law enforcement agencies' stance on immigration and immigrants in the country illegally has become an increasing point of scrutiny for some given the federal government's ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration under President Donald Trump.

Ogden police spelled out their stance on immigration in a statement on Tuesday. (Photo: Ogden Police Department)

"We know there are many questions about immigration and how it relates to local law enforcement," reads the post from Tuesday. "The Ogden Police Department is proud to serve every member of our community with fairness, professionalism and respect."

The post, with a graphic outlining the Ogden department's position, says officers don't ask for immigration documents or take part in enforcement actions based solely on the immigration status of would-be targets. "Victims and witnesses are safe to call OPD. Your immigration status will not be asked for or shared when you seek help," it reads.

Several sheriff's offices around Utah have entered into formal agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, called 287(g) accords, to cooperate in tracking immigrants illegally in the country. Such agreements facilitate communication with immigration authorities, enabling local law enforcement to determine whether suspects they are dealing with are in the country illegally or face deportation. Proponents see them as a means of helping assure public safety and locating criminal immigrants while critics worry such arrangements could deter some in the immigrant community from seeking help from law enforcement.

The Weber County Sheriff's Office, where Ogden is located, has such an accord, as do the sheriff's offices in Beaver, Cache, Kane, Sanpete, Tooele, Utah, Wasatch and Washington counties. The Riverton Police Department and the Utah Department of Corrections have also entered into 287(g) agreements with the feds while the Utah National Guard has been asked to assist with the federal immigration crackdown.

On the flip side, officials from the Murray and Provo police departments say they don't have formal agreements to cooperate with federal immigration officials.

"Provo police officers are not immigration officers and do not have authority to arrest a person for their immigration status alone. Provo Police Department does not have any cross-deputized Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers within our department," reads the Provo police statement from August.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.