ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo.—The St. Charles County Council unanimously approved an ordinance establishing an agreement between the St. Charles County Police Department and the United States Department of Homeland Security: Immigrations, Customs and Enforcement (ICE). Though a few briefly cheered as it passed, immediately after, boos and shouting against the council rang loud for over a minute. St. Charles County will be entering into the Task Force Model of operation which allows local officers to enforce limited immigration authority while performing routine police duties or as an active participant in an ICE-led task force, according to ICE. Spectrum News reported early last month that over 40 Missouri law enforcement agencies had entered 287(g) contracts including, Jefferson County, Lincoln County aong others. Previously, ICE’s website permitted downloading the list of participating agencies at this link but now denies access. “(ICE) need to be properly trained and from what I’ve seen, they’re not properly trained,” said John Mangles, St. Charles County resident. “Do we want ICE working with our county police? Answer: no.” County Executive, Steve Ehlmann, says undocumented workers have been an issue dating back 23 years. The county says it has been doing its homework on the 287(g) contract for some time by talking with its law enforcement and Missouri State Highway Patrol, who already have a 287(g) contract. “It’s been a reourring problem,” said Ehlmann. “2003 we had an incident. 2007 got a lot of publicity because it was Missouri Housing Commission was subsidizing an apartment complex and the contractor brought people up from across the border to do the work.” He expanded to include an incident in 2021. “Men who were brought up in vans from outside the country. They were working, they were violating every labor law that we have: they were working too many hours, they were getting paid in cash, they weren’t paying any taxes, their employer wasn’t paying any FICA,” said Ehlmann. An on-the-job injury went without a call to the hospital, Ehlmann claimed. He also pointed out the Golden Apple Buffet incident from last fall which led to county police assisting ICE during that investigation. “(ICE) asked for our assistance, and our help is merely related to providing a perimeter for safety,” said Kurt Frisz, Chief of Police for St. Charles County Police. “We’ve had a long-standing practice of assisting any law enforcement agency that requests our help: federal, state and local. That includes ICE and we’ve worked with ICE many times.” Frisz adds that day-in and day-out his officers come in contact with immigration issues. “(287g) gives them direct access to expedite the process. Right now, we get into these situations (regarding immigration status) take our officers multiple hours to deal with it and get back in service—the one thing that is does not do is it does not take our officer’s discretion away from them.” Officers will continue to decide for themselves whether to inquire about a person’s immigration status. “They don’t have to, they don’t need to do that,” mentions Frisz. “Unless it’s part of the situation, that’s going to resolve a bigger issue.” Following immediate jeers from audience members in the chamber, which included people holding “abolish ICE now” signs, Brazil spoke up. “(ICE is) not going to be here,” states Brazil. “They’re not going to go out bounty hunting—we’re trying to make it more efficient for the police officers to get back in service so they’re not spending three and four hours (being tied up with immigration status matters). There’s not going to be ICE agents running around here with ICE jackets on. That’s not going to happen!” Frisz noted police would continue to help ICE when requested to assist an ICE-led operation, but police would not be patrolling around looking for undocumented immigrants. “I’ve seen what ICE has done,” said Jose Lardizabal, a St. Charles resident. “I firmly believe that the chief and Mr. Ehlmann are honest in what they said. I trust them, I just don’t trust ICE because there’ve been countless incidents over the last couple years of them not living up to their deals.” For more information on the memorandum of understanding that established the 287(g) in St. Charles County, look at it in this agenda item from the County Council.