EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14\/CBS4) \u2014 El Paso County commissioners said they are being forced to comply with Senate Bill 8, warning that the law\u2019s costs and staffing demands could further strain the El Paso County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
County leaders received a breakdown of how Senate Bill 8 is affecting the sheriff\u2019s office. <\/p>\n
The law requires counties with more than 100,000 residents to collaborate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. <\/p>\n
It also allows the sheriff\u2019s office to issue warrants to undocumented migrants while they are in custody.<\/p>\n
County officials said they had no say in how the law is being implemented.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, we’re stuck in between a rock and a hard place because the state legislature has mandated that we do this,\u201d El Paso County Commissioner David Stout said.<\/p>\n
Stout said state programs and ICE-related requirements have already cost the county millions of dollars. <\/p>\n
\u201cClose to 70% of the county’s budget is spent on programs and services that the state forces us to provide, and they give us no funding to reimburse for the costs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When it comes to immigration enforcement by itself, it has cost us between 40 and 50 million dollars over the last five to six years.<\/p>\n
RECOMMENDED: New state law brings ICE warrant training to El Paso County<\/a><\/p>\n The deadline for compliance with Senate Bill 8 is Dec. 1, 2026. <\/p>\n Under the law, counties must enter a 287(g) agreement with the federal government, described as a formal partnership.<\/p>\n Emily Schmalz reports on how El Paso County Sheriff’s Office could be impacted by SB8<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The county had three options to choose from:<\/p>\n The Jail Enforcement Model – designed to identify and process removable migrants \u2014 with criminal or pending criminal charges \u2014 who are arrested by state or local law enforcement agencies.The Task Force Model – allows law enforcement agencies to enforce immigration laws during their routine policing duties under ICE oversight. The Warrant Service Officer program – allows ICE to train, certify and authorize state and local law enforcement officers to serve and execute administrative warrants on migrants in the agency’s jail.<\/p>\n The Sheriff’s office requested that the county select the Warrant Service Officer model.<\/p>\n El Paso County Deputy Chief Sheriff Emmanuel Soria said the model is the least intrusive option available and would allow ICE to serve warrants in the jail through what was described as a low-burden program with an eight-hour training requirement. <\/p>\n But Soria said the sheriff\u2019s office has not received key details from ICE.<\/p>\n \u201cWe still have yet to get direction from ICE in terms of how this training is gonna take place, where it’s gonna take place, and how many officers we’re gonna use to do this type of model that we selected,\u201d Soria said.<\/p>\n Soria also said the county is eligible for a $120,000 state grant that can be used over two years to cover unreimbursed operational costs, including personnel, jail housing, training and equipment, but said other costs would fall on the sheriff\u2019s office.<\/p>\n