Mobile and Baldwin Sheriffs are joining a program that empowers local law enforcement to carry out the duties of federal immigration agents.

“(We joined) to show support of the program and to do our part in completing this mission,” said Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch.

The federal program called 287G is expanding nationwide as President Donald Trump seeks to carry out his mass deportation goals.

Deputies in the program will now be able to ask and identify whether people are here legally or not, said Burch. He said he signed the 287G agreement about 2 weeks ago.

Baldwin County is also joining the program, a spokesperson for the department confirmed.

“It gives deputies access to more information about that person in a quicker manner,” Baldwin County Sheriff Anthony Lowery told NBC15 news about the program.

Mobile County is already helping transport immigrants to a facility in Mississippi, said Burch. He said they cannot be housed in his jail because it is already full.

He said he does not think joining the program will change very much, given his department’s close collaboration with federal agents at ICE.

“We’re primarily support personnel. When they have operations going, you know, we send some of our deputies with them.”

His department will now be able to update information about the immigration status of people into a federal system to speed up the efforts of federal agents.

Alabama departments already involved include Colbert, Cherokee, Crenshaw, Elmore, Etowah, Franklin, Henry, Houston, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Marion and Pike counties and the Level Plains Police Department.

Madison County is pending approval.

Local sheriffs can opt to work with ICE through three models.

• Jail Enforcement Model, helping to identify and process “removable” immigrants, those with criminal charges or pending charges who are arrested by local agencies.
• Task Force Model, enforcing “limited” immigration authority during their regular police work.
• Warrant Service Officer Model, helping serve warrants on immigrants in jail.

Neither Mobile nor Baldwin County Sheriffs confirmed which models they would be operating under. U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement did not respond to a request for comment.

As of Friday, 737 such agreements existed across 40 states.