Amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration, Florida law enforcement units have flocked to sign up for a federal immigration program that would deputize local officers to enforce immigration laws. 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has signed agreements with over 100 police departments and county sheriff’s offices in Florida to participate in the 287(g) task force model as of Tuesday afternoon. 

USF’s University Police plans to join that list. 

UP Chief Christopher Daniel has already signed a contract with ICE to enroll UP officers in the program, according to an agreement obtained by The Oracle through a public records request. 

However, ICE has not signed the contract yet and a time frame has not been provided for when they will sign, said Colleen Gagnon, the police evidence, records and communications supervisor at UP.

Some immigration experts have expressed worries over UP’s plan to participate, citing concerns over racial profiling and how it could affect the USF community’s trust in law enforcement. 

“Any time you heighten police to allow them to go something beyond their enumerated powers, it’s going to have a chilling effect,” said Nicole Leon, an immigration attorney and executive director of the Florida Immigration Law and Justice Center. 

Related: ICE can visit USF. Experts say students should know their rights.

USF spokesperson Althea Johnson said “all state law enforcement agencies,” including UP, are “expected” to follow Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “directive” to participate in the 287(g) program.

In February, DeSantis “directed” state law enforcement to sign up for the program “to execute functions of immigration enforcement within the state,” according to a press release from DeSantis’ office.

The Florida Atlantic Police Department is also expected to participate in the program, a records custodian from the department confirmed to The Oracle. 

Other nearby law enforcement agencies to the USF campus have also signed up for the program, such as the Tampa Police Department and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. 

UP spokesperson Michael Lavelle declined The Oracle’s request for an interview. He wrote in an email that the plan is “still in the infancy stage,” and declined to answer specific questions about the program, such as how many officers will participate or when the training is expected to begin.

John Gihon, an immigration attorney from Lasnetski Gihon Law based in Orlando and Jacksonville, said officers in the program are essentially “cross-trained to understand and enforce federal immigration laws.” 

Gihon, who also worked as a senior attorney for ICE for six years until 2014, said an officer would need reasonable suspicion to ask someone about their immigration status.

Gihon said this suspicion could be a “variety of things,” such as if “they don’t have a valid license and maybe they don’t speak English, and you see some sort of indication that they perhaps are not citizens.”  

All “immigration enforcement activities” carried out by a law enforcement agency will be “under the supervision and direction of ICE,” according to the contract.

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The 287(g) program dates back to 1996, but was removed during President Barack Obama’s administration in 2012 due to concerns related to racial profiling. 

The task force model allows local officers to question, stop or arrest people they suspect of violating civil immigration laws. 

The training will cover “relevant immigration laws” and “detention of aliens,” among other topics, according to the contract. 

In order for an officer to participate, they have to be nominated by the “chief officer.”

Amien Kacou, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida who focuses on immigrants’ rights, said he fears officers will rely on biases related to “ethnic origins and race.” 

Kacou said local law enforcement units, such as UP, have more “community policing responsibilities,” which give them more “opportunities to racially profile people.” 

“This could be triggered by a number of factors,” he said. “For example, not just the person’s apparent ethnicity, but their inability to speak English or their accents.”

He said he is also concerned because universities “attract” both international students and faculty. Out of USF’s over 47,000 students, just over 13% are not American or don’t have American citizenship, according to data from USF’s InfoCenter. 

Related: Donald Trump’s immigration policies concern USF students

Leon, who works with the Florida Immigration Law and Justice Center, said the program could chill free speech on campus or students’ ability to “speak out against injustices.”

“College campuses are supposed to be a place where we encourage free speech, we encourage the youth to speak out against injustices,” she said. “Who’s going to do it now?”

Kacou said he’s particularly concerned by how ICE is “being used” by Trump’s administration to “crack down” on political speech on university campuses.

Some international students have been taken into custody by ICE in recent weeks. Several of those students were outspoken supporters of Palestine during the Israel-Hamas conflict.

“The opportunity for abuse of local resources in the context of these ICE agreements is especially heightened in the current environment,” he said. 

Leon said people whose immigration status is “not quite secure” may hesitate to report crimes against them out of fear. 

“There’s going to be a lack of trust in those that are supposed to be there to protect you,” she said.