Tooele County Sheriff says ICE recruiting with 5-figure bonuses is giving him ‘pause’

TOOELE — As several counties in Utah enter an era of greater cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency’s recruiting tactics have been creating tension.

Sheriffs in Utah and across the country have expressed concerns about ICE potentially poaching deputies with advertised signing bonuses of up to $50,000.

Tooele County Sheriff Paul Wimmer told KSL TV he would be pausing before deciding whether to pass along names of deputies who would be enrolling in ICE immigration training under 287(g) agreements with the county.

“I’m looking for a little more confidence that the names of the deputies I provide are not going to be actively recruited by ICE as they complete the training,” Wimmer said during a recent interview.

Tooele County was among the Utah counties so far to sign 287(g) partnership agreements with the federal agency in hopes of greater cooperation, efficiency and transparency on immigration enforcement issues.

“We’re not caught off-guard, we’re not hearing of raids we’re oblivious to, or anything like that,” Wimmer said.

Kane County Sheriff and president of the Utah Sheriffs Association, Tracy Glover, also spoke publicly this month about the situation, noting officers going through 287(g) training had received emailed recruitment letters that mentioned the offer of the $50,000 signing bonus, broken down $10,000 per year over a 5-year commitment.

“I think it’s an unprofessional way to go about hiring, I think it’s a bit classless,” Glover told KSL TV. “For the federal government through ICE to ask us to help them do their job under 287(g) agreements and then kind of come around and flank us with a recruitment letter like that was a bit unprofessional in my view.”

Both Glover and the Tooele County Sheriff said local ICE leadership had been great to work with, and Glover said he was still “optimistic” about the relationship moving forward, but Wimmer admitted he didn’t know what intentions were out of Washington, D.C., in terms of hiring.

He said he did not believe recruiting over deputies was the initial intent of the 287(g) program.

“I’d hate to speculate that there was nefarious intent from the beginning and that’s why they were so accommodating and really reaching out to us to see if we would participate in the 287(g) program,” Wimmer said. “I don’t have any evidence to suggest that was the original intent and I don’t personally think that’s the case.”

Wimmer said he hoped to receive more clarity before moving forward in a particular direction.

“It just would not feel right for me to put my deputies through training for a program that has the potential to be mutually beneficial for their organization and mine, only to have them try to recruit from me,” Wimmer said.

Related stories: Utah Sheriffs Association clarifies local law enforcement’s partnership with ICE

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