LOCAL IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT · PUBLIC RECORDS
Putnam County, Tennessee 287(g) & ICE Agreement Tracker
Two agreements, two dates, and a clear boundary between authority and activity.
Two listed models · JEM + TFM
Yes. ICE’s October 2, 2026 roster lists Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, Tennessee under Jail Enforcement Model, dated February 24, 2025, and Task Force Model, dated June 24, 2025. The county appears on Tennessee’s CIED list. Describing Putnam only as a jail-model participant would omit its separate TFM entry.
Putnam County status dashboard
| Measure | October 7, 2026 edition |
|---|---|
| Agency | Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, Tennessee |
| Jail model | JEM, February 24, 2025 roster date |
| Task force model | TFM, June 24, 2025 roster date |
| Sheriff | Eddie Farris, official county directory |
| State participation list | Putnam listed |
| Agreement links | Separate JEM and TFM PDFs linked by ICE |
| Operational start and current authorized officers | Not independently verified |
| Complete activity and net county costs | Not established by reconciled primary records |
Sources: ICE workbook, county sheriff directory, CIED. Putnam County, Tennessee / Cookeville is the jurisdiction here. Putnam County, Florida has a separate sheriff and different agreements; it is not interchangeable with this record.
The two agreement records
The JEM document is linked in the federal workbook with February 24, 2025 in the signed-date field. The TFM document has its own row dated June 24, 2025. These are separate agreements, not two descriptions of one jail contract.
The federal listing is the strongest evidence used here for the current model labels. We have not treated the June date as proof that patrol activity began that day, that a particular number of deputies was certified, or that every street encounter was conducted under TFM.
The official county directory names Eddie Farris as sheriff and places the office at 421 East Spring Street in Cookeville. Agency identity and state are essential when searching ICE’s document library because other states also have a Putnam County. County directory.
Jail screening, task-force authority and implementation
JEM concerns delegated functions for people already in custody; TFM concerns limited immigration authority during routine police duties and ICE-led task forces under federal supervision. Those model descriptions establish the program framework, not a complete inventory of what Putnam deputies have done. ICE fact sheet.
A March 9, 2026 Highlands Insider report describes Sheriff Farris discussing the partnership at a February 23 campus event, including both the February jail agreement and June task-force agreement. It also reports a local detainer figure. We use the account as attributed event context, and do not elevate that figure into an independently verified dashboard total without underlying logs and a reconciled period. Local report.
This distinction resolves a common search question: Putnam is federally listed under both models, while a statement emphasizing jail screening does not by itself cancel the separate TFM record. An amendment, termination or replacement instrument would be needed to establish such a change.
Putnam agreement and implementation timeline
| Date | Record and significance |
|---|---|
| February 24, 2025 | JEM agreement date in ICE’s roster |
| June 24, 2025 | Separate TFM agreement date in ICE’s roster |
| February 23, 2026 | Campus discussion by Sheriff Farris, according to the March 9 local report |
| March 9, 2026 | Report published describing both agreements and implementation issues |
| May 19, 2026 | Tennessee Public Chapter 1015 becomes law |
| October 2, 2026 | ICE roster lists both Putnam models |
| October 7, 2026 | Tracker first published; missing operational data identified |
| January 1, 2027 | State deadline for covered sheriffs |
Sources: roster, local event account, state legislative history. Both listed agreements predate the statewide mandate; this chronology does not assign a first operational day.
How Tennessee’s mandate applies to the context
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.
Records needed for a meaningful recurring update
The most useful next records are model-specific officer authorizations and training dates, aggregate activity logs, any amendments or suspension correspondence, and county budget and reimbursement records. A county’s presence on CIED’s list is not an invoice, payment receipt or financial audit.
Separate jail encounters, detainers, transfers and removals when reviewing activity. Statewide totals cannot supply a missing Putnam number. Separate the sheriff’s office from Cookeville Police or federal agents when identifying the agency responsible for an event.
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.
For comparison, Hamilton has one sheriff model in the reviewed roster, while Knox has two with a much later TFM date. The Tennessee table provides all county entries and available agreement links.
Direct answers & FAQ
Does Putnam County, Tennessee have a 287(g) agreement?
Yes. The October 2, 2026 ICE roster lists the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office under JEM and TFM, and Tennessee’s CIED county list includes Putnam.
Which models does Putnam County use?
The reviewed federal roster lists Jail Enforcement Model dated February 24, 2025 and Task Force Model dated June 24, 2025. Implementation details must be verified separately.
Is Putnam County’s agreement only for jail screening?
A jail-only description is incomplete as a statement of the federal listing because the roster also contains a separate Task Force Model agreement.
Who is Putnam County’s sheriff?
The county’s official sheriff directory identifies Eddie Farris in this October 7, 2026 review.
Is this the Putnam County, Florida agreement?
No. This tracker concerns Putnam County, Tennessee and Cookeville. Florida’s Putnam County has separate agencies and agreements.
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.