Sheriff: Beaufort County is close to inking deal with feds to deploy ICE task force
Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner says his department is expecting a formal agreement from ICE within days — the next step toward rejoining a controversial federal-local partnership program that would deputize local officers to enforce immigration law.
The sheriff publicly confirmed the timeline Tuesday evening while addressing a standing-room-only crowd at the Bluffton library. All 168 seats were filled well before the 5:30 p.m. start. Dozens stood along the room’s perimeter.
This was the second packed meeting in weeks where Tanner fielded public questions about the 287(g) program — a partnership that deputizes local law enforcement officers to enforce immigration laws.
Outside, chalk messages stretched across the walkway: “No 287(g) in Beaufort County” and “Immigrants make us great.” Inside, attendees raised their hands high with questions about the programs’ burden on taxpayers, local crime rate statistics and the risk of racial profiling.
Tanner formally expressed interest in the program in a June letter addressed to ICE. If the forthcoming agreement is approved by legal counsel and signed, implementation could begin in just a few months, Tanner said.
Partnerships between ICE and local police departments have been criticized over the years, with some arguing the program encourages racial profiling and reduces trust in local policing. The controversial program has expanded during President Donald Trump’s second term and has rapidly gained traction in South Carolina in recent months.
In South Carolina alone, sheriff’s departments in nearly 20 of the state’s 46 counties are participating in the program. Five local departments statewide and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division have agreements in place to participate in the task force model.
How will this program work in Beaufort County?
Under the task force model, ICE trains and equips local officers to enforce federal immigration laws. Officers can question individuals about their immigration status and detain them for potential deportation.
Tanner said he anticipates recruiting two deputies into the task force — one focused on intelligence, the other on investigations. He expects both will be “100% bilingual,” and will likely hire externally, given the department’s 20 current vacancies, he told The Island Packet.
Tanner said he had former law enforcement officers in mind. Their ICE-related duties, he added, would be “secondary.”
Tanner’s department participated in the program more than a decade ago. Now, Tanner said, joining the program gives the department access to federal databases and intelligence that would otherwise be unavailable and gives his office a limited “seat at the table” with federal agents.
But that justification drew skepticism.
Sebastian Hernandez Sanchez, an immigration attorney planning to open a practice in Bluffton, said the sheriff already has access to the intelligence he claims to need without signing on to the program. That data, Hernandez said, is available through the Department of Homeland Security’s Law Enforcement Support Center, which operates 24/7.
The sheriff said he couldn’t answer “hypothetical questions” from the public, despite his assertion that Beaufort County’s future in the program is not so hypothetical.
Among them were questions about the department’s plan on handling those under temporary protective statuses. This designation allows people who came from unsafe countries with armed conflict or natural disasters to live and work in the United States temporarily without threat of deportation.
Tanner said he didn’t have an answer for that, since his department is “not part of the program yet.”
When asked what safeguards would be in place to prevent racial profiling, Tanner responded that it was “a non-issue,” claiming it has never been an issue arising out of his department.
As of Wednesday morning, Tanner’s department was not listed among ICE’s list of pending agencies, but local and state law enforcement agencies are added to the list on a near-daily basis. It is unclear at what point in the process agencies are added to this list.
Divisions south of the Broad River
Unlike the sheriff’s first meeting on July 8 in Beaufort — where most attendees opposed and criticized the program, the department and Tanner himself — the crowd on Tuesday was far more divided.
Some, like Rose Hill resident Nancy Pardo York, voiced full support for the sheriff’s plan to join the task force.
Pardo York, who is of Venezuelan descent, said her father became a U.S. citizen after serving in World War II. She lived in Venezuela until the age of eight and recalled witnessing her father’s “long and challenging” path to legal status. She believes anyone coming to the U.S. today should follow the same process.
Another Rose Hill resident, Mike Hagen, said he trusts the sheriff’s judgment and doesn’t believe Tanner or his department would open the door to indiscriminate ICE operations in the county. Rather, he said, joining the program gives the sheriff’s office more control over how immigration enforcement is carried out locally.
Others remained staunchly opposed.
Bernie Scolaro, a Sun City resident, held a printed statement in her hand for most of the meeting, waiting for a chance to speak. She never got it. Afterward, she said she doesn’t believe the program will make the community safer — only more chaotic.
“The session for me was a sham,” Scolaro later wrote in an email. “It was not to get community input on a potential task force, but to tell us it was going to happen regardless of any concerns. The concerns were dismissed. But yes, Sheriff Tanner could say that he held a community listening session. He just had no interest in really listening.”
What will it cost?
Top of mind for meeting attendees both North and South of the Broad River was the program’s financial burden on local taxpayers. The sheriff, once again, said the primary cost would be nothing, holding his hand up in the shape of a zero. Secondary costs would be those it would take to bring in new deputies, which he estimated to be about $135,000 each.
ICE covers the cost of training officers and installing and maintaining necessary technology for departments participating in 287(g), according to the American Immigration Council. But local municipalities are responsible for personnel and any administrative costs. The cost of detention is also taken on by local taxpayers.
If the agreement is determined to be ineffective, the sheriff confirmed that there is a 30-day notice period that could potentially end it.
This story was originally published July 23, 2025 at 12:34 PM.
