Cars parked behind office of the Madison County Sheriff Criminal Division Building in Wampsville. Credit: Mike Greenlar | Central Current

Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood had the authority to commit his deputies to help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with the enforcement of immigration law, said Madison County Board of Supervisors Chairman James Cunningham. 

The question arose after Central Current reported that ICE listed Madison County as having signed a 287(g) agreement, which authorizes the county’s deputies to serve immigration warrants. 

Madison County spokesperson Samantha Field told Central Current that the agreement was not finalized because the county clerk had not received a physical copy of the agreement, nor had the county’s board of supervisors approved the contract. Residents reached out to the Madison County Board of Supervisors to express concern about the agreement, Cunningham said in a statement. 

However, Cunningham said Monday the county attorney reviewed the agreement and found Hood was allowed to agree to work with ICE. Hood has “a great amount of discretion,” Cunningham said in the statement. 

“Therefore, as an elected official he has the power and ability to enter into agreements with other law enforcement agencies without the approval of the Board of Supervisors,” Cunningham wrote.

Cunningham did not immediately respond to questions from Central Current. 

Hood, a Republican, signed the 287(g) agreement on July 2. ICE has been at the forefront of President Donald Trump’s effort to deport undocumented immigrants. The Madison County Sheriff’s Office is one of 832 law enforcement agencies that agreed to allow their officers to enforce immigration law. Nearly 700 of those agencies have signed the agreements since Trump took office on Jan. 20.  

Hood signed the agreement with ICE just days before the agency received a nearly $75 billion windfall in Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act. Despite employing more than 20,000 people, ICE is pushing to hire thousands more employees because of the windfall. 

ICE’s deportation efforts have been of particular concern to communities that rely on agriculture, creating flashpoints across the United States. Madison County ranks in the top third of all New York counties in acres of farmland, number of farms, percentage of overall land that is farmland and farm sales, according to a report from the state comptroller’s office.  

In an interview with Channel 9, Hood implied the substantial population of farm workers in Madison County had nothing to fear from his new agreement with ICE.

“If you’re keeping your nose clean and doing a good job, you’re pretty low on the radar as far as getting in trouble with law enforcement,” Hood said. “When you’re dealing drugs, human trafficking, all that stuff, well, now you’re on the highest level of alert for law enforcement.”

A recent study from The Cato Institute found that the vast majority of humans detained by ICE committed no crimes, and 93% of offenders detained by ICE had committed non-violent offences.

While seeking to reassure concerned residents during his Channel 9 interview, Hood referenced the German Nazi Party’s notorious secret police.

“It’s political, they try to spread this terrible narrative that the Gestapo is going to come,” Hood said, “and it’s not like that at all.”

Tim O’Keeffe, the communications chair of the Madison County Democratic Committee, questioned Hood’s decision to help ICE and the process behind the sheriff’s decision. 

He pointed out that the same budget that has expanded ICE imperils the Community Memorial Hospital in Hamilton, which O’Keeffe said could lose significant federal funding. O’Keeffe argued Madison County’s government should prioritize responses to federal cuts — like slashes to school lunches for children — over ICE partnership.

Madison County Democrats worry the new agreement could pull away their law enforcement from focusing on local matters, O’Keeffe said. 

“We’ve got other issues that are going on, but the sheriff thinks that helping ICE, this massively funded organization, is important,” O’Keeffe said. “Is that really what anyone in the county level should be focused on?”

O’Keeffe is not alone in his concerns over 287(g) agreements. New York State Attorney General Letitia James advised local law enforcement agencies not to enter such agreements. The New York Civil Liberties Union has railed against them, arguing the agreements have no constitutional basis to authorize state agents to enforce federal law.

Three weeks ago, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights issued a factsheet arguing that 287(g) agreements set the stage for a human rights crisis.

“In 287(g) jurisdictions, trust in law enforcement collapses, as immigrant mothers hesitate to call 911 during emergencies, workers endure exploitation in silence, and survivors of domestic violence stay hidden, fearing that a cry for help might lead to deportation,” the Leadership Conference wrote in its fact sheet.

Four other New York State counties — Rensselaer, Broome, Niagara, and Nassau — have signed 287(g) agreements. The Village of Camden, in Oneida County, also recently inked a contract with ICE.

In Madison County, Hood signed a “Warrant Service Officer” contract, one of three types of 287(g) agreements. That agreement will authorize Madison County deputies to execute immigration warrants, and to detain individuals — who the County would otherwise not have reason to hold in custody — until ICE agents can remove them from the sheriff’s jailhouse.

Congressman John Mannion, a Democrat representing New York’s 22nd Congressional District, criticized Madison County’s new ICE pact. In a statement provided to Central Current, Mannion called Hood’s decision “highly unusual.”

“These agreements are extremely rare in New York State and could distract from efforts to combat local crime,” Mannion said. “I am concerned about the potential impact this decision could have on families, workers, and the local economy.”

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Patrick McCarthy is a staff reporter at Central Current covering government and politics. A graduate of Syracuse University’s Maxwell and Newhouse Schools, McCarthy was born and raised in Syracuse and...