El Paso County Sheriff Oscar Ugarte met residents at a townhall meeting to explain an agreement to work with expanding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.
Dozens of residents attended the meeting on Saturday, Jan. 17, at the Socorro RamÃrez Community Center in Sparks to hear Ugarte explain what will happen now that El Paso County is required by Texas state law to join the national 287(g) program to cooperate with ICE enforcement operations.
Ugarte explained that he was given three options for what type of agreement that his office could enter. Ugarte said that El Paso County will be entering into the warrant services officer model, which will check the federal system for inmates entering the El Paso County Jail to see if the individual has a warrant related to immigration and detain them.
“We picked this model because we believe that it will have the least affect on our community,” Ugarte told residents. “If we do immigration enforcement out in our community, that will create a divide between law enforcement and our community. We don’t want that. We don’t (want) our community to be scared.”
Sheriff Oscar Ugarte speaks with residents in eastern El Paso, Texas, at the Socorro Ramirez Community Center on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, as they voice concerns that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents could enter their homes after a series of anti-immigrant raids in the area earlier in the week.
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The townhall was organized by the Border Network for Human Rights, an El Paso-based immigrant advocacy group. There was no way for El Paso to avoid being forced to participate, Samantha Singleton, the policy director for the BNHR, told attendees, because the county could be sued if they do not “comply.”
The county must now join the 287(g) program with ICE after SB 8 went into effect on Jan. 1. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill into law in June 2025 requiring all counties that operate a jail or contracts with a private vendor to operate a jail in Texas to sign one of three types of agreements with ICE: the Warrant Service Officer, the Jail Enforcement Model and the Task Force Model.
Over 225 counties in Texas already have signed agreements with ICE, according to the ICE’s 287(g) program website. Only one county in New Mexico is participating in the program, the Curry County Sheriff’s Office in Clovis.
El Paso County Sheriff Oscar Ugarte meets with residents at the Socorro Ramirez Community Center in Sparks in eastern El Paso County on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, after Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations left some in the community fearful.
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ICE agents already had access to inmates detained in the El Paso County Jail due to a 2017 law that required them to work with federal agents.
Ugarte — a first generation American and Democrat who just completed his first year in office as sheriff — expressed his opposition to being forced to sign any new agreement throughout the townhall. The sheriff told the El Paso Times that these new requirements could strain his already underfunded and short staffed office.
“As local law enforcement, we have enough issues to deal with already,” Ugarte said following the event. “We don’t have the resources, we don’t have the manpower, we don’t have the budget. Do I believe that local law enforcement should be focused on federal immigration laws? Absolutely not.”
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Fears in El Paso immigrant community
Residents spent more than an hour asking Ugarte questions related to ICE operations in the county.
The questions from residents ranged between how his office had received emergency calls reporting federal agents, how would his office address racial profiling and what to do if federal agents leave a child behind after detaining their guardians, among many other questions.
Ugarte said that any emergency calls will be treated as any other call, but if the person identifies themselves as a federal agent, there isn’t much deputies can do. He requested that residents do not protest at a close distance and not interfere with federal agents. He also pointed out that these policies were the result of the 2024 elections, and reminded residents to show their anger through voting.
El Paso County Sheriff Oscar Ugarte meets with residents at the Socorro Ramirez Community Center in Sparks in eastern El Paso County on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, after Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations left some in the community fearful.
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The questions reflected the concerns of many residents of the Borderland, many of whom are immigrants and still have loved one who cross the border regularly.
There is fear in the community, Alfredo Agüero, a resident of El Paso, said after the townhall. The 68-year-old U.S. citizen was born in Juárez and was one of about 20 people to ask a question of the sheriff, asking how can residents have confidence that these masked individuals are actual federal agents when they do not identify themselves or present identifications and how the community can have confidence in the sheriff.
The sheriff’s answer that there was nothing he could do did not ease his concerns, he said.
“I feel like we are in the same spot,” Agüero said. “The answers we received is that they can do whatever they want. It is not fair.”
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Jeff Abbott covers the border for the El Paso Times and can be reached at:jdabbott@usatodayco.com; @palabrasdeabajo on Twitter or @palabrasdeabajo.bsky.social on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso County sheriff looks to ease fears of ICE agreement