When Portage County Sheriff’s deputies make a traffic stop, they may soon ask for proof of citizenship on top of license, registration and insurance.
This is because the office signed an agreement with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce federal immigration law in the county. Known as the 287(g) program, it allows deputies to interrogate and arrest those suspected of being in the country unlawfully.
How will they identify people unlikely to have proper legal documentation to be in the country? Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski, a vocal critic of immigration, won’t say. But past examples of these agreements may offer insight into what to expect.
“A lot of times, across the country, sheriff’s offices and police departments that have engaged in these 287(g) contracts with the government have already been found to violate constitutional laws by profiling people and arresting people they should not have,” said Evan Hunt, an immigration attorney with Martin Jolic and Associates.
Hunt said law enforcement falls into racial profiling because immigration status cannot be determined just by looking at someone. Instead, it often changes and relies on a number of factors and documents that local law enforcement may not be able to understand.
In 2012, the year former President Barack Obama suspended the program’s controversial task force model, a Justice Department report found that sheriff’s deputies in North Carolina operating under the agreement were 10 times more likely to stop Latino drivers than non-Latino drivers.
The complexity could put American citizens and those with legal status in the crosshairs of the federal government’s immigration crackdown, Hunt said. Even as a U.S.-born immigration attorney, Hunt admits, “In my daily life, I don’t have any proof that I’m a citizen.”
The potential to be detained based on little or no information could create paranoia for immigrants and foreign nationals, said Daniel Chand, an associate professor of political science at Kent State University.
Immigration violations fall under civil law, but because 287(g) agreements blur the distinction between civil and criminal law, immigrants may be less likely to trust law enforcement when they are the victims of crimes.
“You don’t want to make people afraid to go to law enforcement,” Chand said.
Hunt said he recommends his clients carry all documents that show their full immigration history, and while “it’s tough to tell someone to stay locked up in their homes,” he said that’s the effect 287(g) agreements have on a community
On-campus enforcement
The sheriff’s agreement has particularly caused anxiety for the campus community, home to more than 3,000 international students. Many declined to be interviewed, expressing fear after the federal government stripped visas for 10 former and current international students at Kent State.
Vance Voyles, a sergeant with the Kent State University Police Department, said there’s little chance sheriff’s deputies will be doing immigration stings on campus.
Because KSUPD has complete jurisdiction over campus, sheriff’s deputies would need to defer to the department, he said.
“We tend not to get in each other’s way,” Voyles said.
Voyles added that campus police must abide by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which means officers cannot disclose class schedules or where a student lives.
Financial burden
While the sheriff’s office will be taking on additional duties, the 287(g) agreement provides no revenue for the office.
Hunt said such programs regularly cost law enforcement agencies hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars each year. While ICE pays for the training of individual officers, localities cover the hours and overtime required to enforce the law.
Funding for the sheriff’s office has been a matter of contention between Zuchowski and the county’s board of commissioners. In 2024, it denied a $4 million increase to the office’s budget.
Commissioner Sabrina Christian-Bennett, vice president of the board, said Zuchowski did not notify the board prior to signing the 287(g) agreement.
“Portage County Sheriff’s Office has been asking for more and more money year after year,” Hunt said. “They’re going to be coming back in 2026 asking for even more money.”
Hunt added the agreement could divert law enforcement resources from agencies that are already strained and that immigration cases take years to finalize.
The burden for law enforcement agencies is part of the reason the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio and the Ohio Immigrant Alliance sent a letter to all of Ohio’s 88 county sheriffs in January urging them not to sign a 287(g) agreement. So far, just three sheriffs have signed such contracts in the state, according to a database published by ICE.
Lynn Tramonte, director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, said Zuchowski opted for headlines instead of properly weighing a sound decision for his community.
“This is a headache for you,” Tramonte said. “You need to know what you’re getting into.”
Zuchowski did not respond to a request for comment.
Alton Northup is news director. Contact him at [email protected].
