Kane County backs limited ICE agreement to let jail staff serve warrants for people already booked

KANE COUNTY — The Kane County Commission on Aug. 5 unanimously agreed to support a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that adopts a limited warrant‑service officer (WSO) model for handling immigration detention paperwork.

Sheriff Glover, who presented the item, said the county considered three 287(g) cooperation models — a jail enforcement model, a task force model and the WSO model — and chose the WSO approach because it is the least resource‑intensive and narrowly focused. "The jail enforcement model's off the table for me," the sheriff said, adding that he was "not interested in doing ICE's job proper" and that the county instead wants to limit participation to processing paperwork for people already in custody.

The sheriff described the WSO option as involving roughly 30–40 hours of online training for a small number of booking officers so they can work through ICE's detention paperwork more efficiently when someone already held in the county jail is identified as being in the country without authorization. He told commissioners that "we've booked less than 20 [people without authorization] into our jail in the last five years," and said the county has historically notified ICE when appropriate.

County Attorney Jeff Scott said the agreement is limited in scope and would not authorize deputies to conduct independent immigration enforcement. "This is just for those who are already in our jail because they committed a crime, what to do with them after it's been resolved, and making sure they go through their immigration due process," Scott said.

The MOA drew a question during the public‑comment period from Kathy McDermott, who asked how the cooperation would work; the sheriff and county attorney responded in the later presentation with details about the WSO workflow and the county's intent to keep responsibilities narrow. Commissioners discussed whether the sheriff, an independent elected official, could sign the agreement but decided to record the commission's formal support. A motion to approve support for the WSO MOA passed on a unanimous voice vote.

Sheriff Glover said the WSO arrangement aims to give the county "a seat at the table" with ICE and to improve the efficiency of transfers while avoiding broader local enforcement duties. He also noted recent national‑level recruiting outreach from ICE offering signing bonuses to local officers, which he criticized in public statements; he said local field leadership had apologized for how a Washington, D.C. recruiting letter was circulated.

The commission recorded no dissent on the floor. The sheriff said he plans additional media outreach to explain the county's approach and the narrow scope of the agreement.

What happens next: The commission's vote registers formal board support; the sheriff and his office will proceed with implementing the WSO procedures and coordinating any necessary training and execution steps.