Dallas County Criminal Justice Department Director Charlene Randolph announced during a Tuesday meeting of the Dallas County Commissioners Court that the jail exceeded capacity over Labor Day weekend. Randolph emphasized that the jail is in “crisis” mode and that county leaders need to “find ways to get [detainees] out."
Increasingly, though, the county is being asked to keep a specific population of inmates detained.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data obtained by the Deportation Data Project and published by the San Antonio Express-News shows that ICE agents are relying on local jails to hold onto undocumented immigrants until they can be picked up by immigration officials at a significantly higher rate than in years past. All Texas counties participate in a program that allows fingerprints to be run through federal law enforcement directories, including immigration databases.
ICE detainers — the request made to jails to either notify ICE authorities before a person is released or to hold the individual for 48 hours until agents can take them into federal custody — increased 30% across Texas jails in the first part of this year when compared to the same period last year.
In North Texas, the rate of detainers has skyrocketed. In Dallas County, 1,706 ICE detainers were issued between February and May 2025, a 71% increase from 2024. Immigration holds in Collin County have increased by 63%, and in Tarrant and Denton counties, ICE has issued 107% and 115% more detainers, respectively.
All four North Texas counties have seen larger spikes in detainer requests than Travis County (50% increase), Harris County (25% increase) and Bexar County (45% increase), and no county has seen more ICE detainer requests than Dallas County.
Lena Graber, senior staff attorney at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, told the paper that immigration holds are one of ICE’s primary ways to locate individuals possibly eligible for deportation.
“It's just convenient for them,” Graber said. “It takes many more hours to identify someone who is living in the U.S. at large.”
Immigration Enforcement on the Local Level
The Dallas County jail has had to reckon with its role in immigration enforcement before. In 2015, former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez sparred with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over her decision to ignore detainer requests for immigrants being held on low-level, non-violent crimes. Individuals being detained for crimes like murder, aggravated assault or crimes posing a public safety danger would still be held for ICE, the policy stated.At the time, Dallas County officials stated that around 6.5% of detainees had active immigration detainers.
As of Monday evening, the Lew Sterrett Justice Center had recorded a population of 7,124 inmates. If that 2015 estimate is still accurate, the Dallas County Jail may be holding more than 460 inmates for ICE.
Immigration advocates worry that sweeping crackdowns on undocumented people have caused communities to stop trusting police or governmental agencies. In February, Dallas County officials assured CBS News that the agency was not assisting federal immigration agencies with enforcement.
"The Dallas County Sheriff's Office's role is to serve the citizens of Dallas County. Like most local law enforcement agencies, the sheriff's office does not have the resources to supplement the federal government,” the department said.
That will change next year, though. On Jan. 1, a law passed by the state legislature goes into effect that forces Texas sheriffs in counties operating a jail to partner with ICE through the 287(g) agreement program. The program authorizes local authorities to carry out certain types of immigration enforcement measures, such as serving administrative warrants. In August, Keller became one of several Texas cities to enter the agreement voluntarily.
"Opting into this program will mean minor adjustments to the responsibilities of our detention officers, but our department’s priorities and philosophies will remain unchanged," the Keller Police Department said in a statement to WFAA. "Our employees are committed to upholding the rule of law and serving the community with respect and empathy. That includes those within our care at the Keller Regional Detention Center."
