LOCAL IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT · PUBLIC RECORDS
Hamilton County, Tennessee 287(g) & ICE Agreement Tracker
Chattanooga-area jail cooperation, commission records and the distinction between an agreement and detention capacity.
Listed ICE partner · Jail Enforcement Model
Yes. The October 2, 2026 ICE roster lists Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, Tennessee under Jail Enforcement Model (JEM), dated March 17, 2025. The CIED county list also includes Hamilton. At the February 25, 2026 commission meeting, Sheriff Garrett described the office’s participation as jail-focused. Official minutes, page 11.
Hamilton County status dashboard
| Measure | October 7, 2026 edition |
|---|---|
| Participating agency | Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, Tennessee |
| Federal model | JEM; no additional sheriff model in the reviewed roster |
| ICE roster agreement date | March 17, 2025 |
| State county list | Hamilton listed |
| Sheriff | Austin Garrett, county directory |
| Local implementation evidence | February 25 commission minutes record the sheriff’s explanation |
| Authorized-officer count / first operation | Not independently established |
| Complete transfers, removals and net costs | No reconciled primary-source series established here |
Sources: roster, CIED, county directory, minutes. This page concerns Hamilton County, Tennessee, including the Chattanooga area; similarly named counties in Ohio and Indiana have separate agencies and records.
What the sheriff told the County Commission
The February 25, 2026 agenda-preparation minutes, page 11, record Sheriff Garrett saying the office participates only in the jail model, completing federal documentation for people already held on state charges. The minutes also record his statement that the office does not conduct worksite enforcement. Those are attributed descriptions of the office’s practice, not an independent audit of every encounter. Minutes.
In response to a commissioner, Garrett said the county receives federal reimbursement for housing federal prisoners and that such arrangements had existed for years. He also said he declined a request for dedicated federal immigration detainee housing. These statements identify two separate questions: what authority the JEM agreement delegates and whether the county has accepted a particular detention-capacity arrangement. Neither proves a net financial gain or loss.
The January 28, 2026 minutes record public concerns about costs, jail capacity, civil rights and community trust, with speakers urging termination of the agreement. Public comment documents what residents asked; it is not a commission vote to terminate. January minutes, page 7.
Agreement, jail agency and model scope
ICE’s workbook links a Hamilton JEM memorandum and gives March 17, 2025 in its agreement-date field. The PDF filename contains an earlier date; a filename alone is not proof of the final signature date. This edition uses the roster date and does not infer a different effective date from the filename.
JEM concerns delegated immigration functions for people in state or local custody. It does not by itself establish a separate Task Force Model street-patrol agreement. Hamilton’s sheriff’s office, Chattanooga Police and ICE remain distinct agencies. Reports of a federal operation in the Chattanooga area therefore require agency-specific attribution. ICE’s model definitions.
The county’s official directory identifies Austin Garrett as sheriff. Use the county directory for current office information and the commission archive for minutes and audio; do not treat a commentator’s description as the controlling agreement.
Implementation timeline
| Date | Record and significance |
|---|---|
| March 17, 2025 | Agreement date in ICE’s Hamilton JEM roster row |
| January 28, 2026 | Commission minutes record requests from residents to end the agreement |
| February 25, 2026 | Sheriff describes jail-model scope, reimbursement and declined dedicated housing |
| May 19, 2026 | Tennessee’s Public Chapter 1015 becomes law |
| October 2, 2026 | Dated federal roster still lists Hamilton JEM |
| October 7, 2026 | This source-based tracker is first published |
| January 1, 2027 | State agreement deadline for covered sheriffs |
Sources: ICE roster, January minutes, February minutes, law history. Hamilton’s listed agreement predates the statewide mandate.
Tennessee law and local oversight
Public Chapter 1015 requires covered, POST-certified county sheriffs to enter an available 287(g) agreement by January 1, 2027. It became law on May 19, 2026. The agreement does not require local governing-body approval; that does not establish approval or payment of any particular county expenditure. The statute permits a temporary emergency suspension with notice, and a violation may lead to withholding state funds allotted to the sheriff or for the sheriff’s use. Section 1 has a scheduled February 1, 2029 sunset. Legislative history · readable copy of enacted text.
See the Tennessee county tracker for the statewide comparison and qualifications. Existing participation establishes a documented agreement, not a finding that every legal or operational requirement has been met.
What the next update must establish
The sheriff’s statements about federal housing payments do not supply a complete accounting. A reliable cost update needs the applicable detention contract, invoices, receipts, personnel costs and the period covered. Keep those records separate from grants and any later 287(g) reimbursement terms.
A reliable activity update needs agency-specific counts, definitions and date ranges: jail encounters, detainers, transfers and removals cannot be added together as if they are the same event. The commission records archive provides a recurring source for public discussion, but no future vote or hearing is asserted here.
The federal evidence is ICE’s October 2, 2026 participating-agency workbook, examined for this October 7 edition. WorthFighting retained that official workbook during the Bedford research and re-read its agency rows and embedded document links for this phase. New direct ICE downloads returned access errors during this check. Dates below are the workbook’s agreement-date fields unless another source is identified. A linked document is not described as newly downloaded or visually verified when it was not accessible.
Compare Knox’s two-model listing and Bedford’s WSO agreement. Their models and costs cannot be assigned to Hamilton.
Direct answers & FAQ
Does Hamilton County, Tennessee participate in 287(g)?
Yes. The October 2, 2026 ICE roster lists Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office under the Jail Enforcement Model, with a March 17, 2025 agreement date.
Does Hamilton County have a Task Force Model agreement?
No Hamilton sheriff Task Force Model row appears in the reviewed roster. The February 25, 2026 commission minutes record Sheriff Garrett saying the office participates only in the jail model.
Did Hamilton County agree to dedicated ICE housing?
The February 25 minutes record Sheriff Garrett saying he declined a request for dedicated immigration detainee housing. That statement should be distinguished from existing federal-prisoner housing and the JEM agreement.
Did the County Commission terminate the agreement?
The reviewed January minutes record public requests for termination, not a termination vote. The October 2 federal roster continues to list the sheriff’s JEM agreement.
How much has Hamilton County earned or spent through this program?
A reconciled primary-source net total was not established for this edition. Statements about federal housing reimbursement do not establish net 287(g) revenue.
Official documents & source library
Official records establish the agency and agreement facts. Local reporting, where included, is labeled and used for attributed context.
Update log
— First edition published. Compared the October 2 federal workbook with current state and local sources; documented model dates, source access limits and unresolved implementation questions. Subsequent material corrections will be recorded here.
Send document-backed corrections through WorthFighting’s corrections page. This page is a dated reference; it does not update automatically.