Jaron Alexander, a patrol officer in Ingram, Texas, a town of 1,900 people, completed an online course with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and became a deputy immigration agent under the 287(g) task force model. The program offers local police officers $100,000 vehicle stipends, $7,500 equipment stipends per officer, quarterly performance bonuses, and funding for salaries and overtime.
Within three months of the program's start in Ingram, Alexander and another patrol officer delivered at least 70 people to immigration agents. Within a year, they handed over the equivalent of 10 percent of the town's population to ICE.
Alexander pulled over multiple residents including people connected to Joanna Martinez, a Ingram resident. He stopped Martinez's cousin, the father of a baby celebrated at a baptism party in October, and handed him to immigration agents. He stopped Martinez's husband, Ulices Macias, in a 2008 GMC truck after claiming the driver failed to signal a turn. Alexander determined Macias was undocumented. An ICE agent in an unmarked SUV arrived at the scene. Alexander briefly uncuffed Macias to allow him time with Martinez and their 2-week-old daughter before the ICE agent placed handcuffs back on him.
Alexander, in his mid-30s, had previously worked as a sheriff's deputy before being fired following a 185-page internal investigation. He says the investigation found he had an affair and used a county vehicle for it, then lied about it. Alexander denied having the affair. Ingram's Police Department hired him as its new police chief was under pressure from the City Council for more traffic stops, citations, and arrests. Alexander says he suggested to the chief that Ingram pursue an ICE partnership.