LOCAL IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT · PUBLIC RECORDS
Knox County, Tennessee 287(g) Tracker: Jail & Task Force Models
What changed in September 2026—and why the jail agreement still matters.
Two listed models · JEM + TFM
Knox County Sheriff’s Office is listed under both JEM and TFM in the October 2, 2026 ICE roster. The roster gives June 8, 2020 for the JEM instrument and September 11, 2026 for TFM. This supports an additional listed model; it does not show that the jail model was replaced. The TFM PDF link is marked pending in that workbook.
Knox County status dashboard
| Measure | October 7, 2026 edition |
|---|---|
| Agency | Knox County Sheriff’s Office, Tennessee |
| Current federal listing examined | Both JEM and TFM |
| JEM agreement-date field | June 8, 2020 |
| TFM agreement-date field | September 11, 2026 |
| Current sheriff on official website | Brent Gibson |
| TFM signed PDF | Link pending in the reviewed roster; not independently inspected |
| Officer training / first TFM operation | Not verified |
| State county list | Knox listed |
Sources: ICE workbook, sheriff website, CIED. This page covers Knox County and Knoxville, Tennessee, not other Knox counties or a separate Knoxville Police Department agreement.
The September change: an added model, not a proven replacement
The new development is the September 11, 2026 TFM date in ICE’s roster. The same workbook retains the JEM row. Headlines describing a “shift” can obscure this distinction: the evidence available here supports both models remaining listed.
The official sheriff website names Brent Gibson. WATE’s September 15 report describes the TFM expansion under Gibson; that report is useful contemporaneous context, while the federal workbook is the source for the model/date fields. Official sheriff page · WATE report.
The older JEM instrument’s June 2020 date is not necessarily the first year of Knox participation. The date shown in a current agreement row should not be used to rewrite the history of earlier agreements. This tracker does not claim that Knox first joined in 2020.
The earlier commission proposal
Knox County’s final February 2026 commission agenda, item R-26-2-903, labels the proposal encouraging a TFM memorandum “Withdraw at request of sponsor.” It notes the earlier deferral from January. Official agenda, page 8.
That agenda is evidence about the proposal’s listed disposition, not proof that the sheriff signed an agreement then. The September federal roster date belongs to a later event. A withdrawn encouragement resolution and a later sheriff agreement can coexist; they should not be collapsed into one approval date.
A full future chronology should locate the final signed TFM PDF, any accompanying local policy, training records and subsequent public reporting. This edition does not infer county spending or a commission funding vote from the agreement’s existence.
Jail and patrol authority answer different questions
Under JEM, designated personnel perform specified immigration functions for people already in state or local custody. TFM delegates limited authority during routine police work or ICE-led task-force activity, subject to training and federal supervision. ICE’s model fact sheet.
Knox’s official field-services page describes the sheriff’s patrol role and 14 patrol zones. A general description of patrol organization does not identify which officers have ICE authorization. It also does not establish the number of immigration encounters, the start date of TFM operations or a city police agreement.
The JEM agreement linked by ICE is a separate instrument from the pending TFM PDF. Until that TFM text is available, this page does not claim to have verified its signatories, addenda, termination clauses or agency-specific reimbursement terms.
Knox implementation timeline
| Date | Documented event |
|---|---|
| June 8, 2020 | Date for the JEM instrument in the reviewed ICE roster |
| February 2026 | Final county agenda marks R-26-2-903 for withdrawal at sponsor’s request |
| May 19, 2026 | Tennessee Public Chapter 1015 becomes law |
| September 11, 2026 | TFM agreement date in the federal roster |
| September 15, 2026 | WATE reports the expansion under Sheriff Gibson |
| October 2, 2026 | ICE workbook lists both Knox models |
| October 7, 2026 | This tracker is published with the TFM document gap disclosed |
| January 1, 2027 | State agreement deadline for covered sheriffs |
Sources: roster, agenda, report, law history. Agreement dates are not officer certification dates.
Tennessee’s requirement and the local decision
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.
Training, costs and activity still need separate records
The next useful records are the signed TFM document, current authorization and training totals, an agency policy describing implementation, aggregate activity reports and reconciled financial accounts. No countywide arrest or removal total is inferred from the listing.
News accounts of detention costs must be matched to their period and underlying invoices before becoming a current net-cost dashboard. A detention bed contract, JEM processing and TFM activity can carry different costs. We do not publish an unverified loss figure as the cost of the September expansion.
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 Hamilton’s jail-only listing and Putnam’s separate JEM/TFM dates, or use the Tennessee table to compare agencies.
Direct answers & FAQ
Does Knox County participate in the 287(g) Task Force Model?
Yes, it is listed under TFM in ICE’s October 2, 2026 roster, with a September 11, 2026 agreement date. The linked PDF was pending in that roster.
Did the Task Force Model replace Knox’s jail agreement?
The reviewed roster does not support that conclusion: it lists Knox under both JEM and TFM.
Who is the Knox County sheriff?
The official sheriff website identifies Brent Gibson as sheriff in this October 7, 2026 review.
Did the February commission proposal approve the September agreement?
The February final agenda marks the TFM encouragement proposal for withdrawal at the sponsor’s request. It is not evidence that the later agreement was executed in February.
How many Knox deputies are authorized under TFM?
A verified current authorization count was not located. The agreement listing does not establish that every deputy is authorized.
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.