The City of Clinton has revealed that its Police Department has entered into a Task Force Model agreement with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
The agreement was entered into on Jan. 26, according to a Jan. 29 post by WIS-TV in Columbia, listing about 30 SC law enforcement agencies that have joined with ICE. Neither the Laurens Police nor the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office are on the list. The listing says “link pending” in the space that would show the details of which agreement the Clinton Police entered into.
Clinton City Council heard about the agreement March 2 at its regular meeting. Asked directly during the public comments portion of the meeting if this agenda listing, “executive session, receipt of legal advice and discussion of contractual matters related to an intergovernmental agreement,” refers to ICE, City Manager Joey Meadors said “yes”.
Council was urged to discuss the matter in open session, but declined. After 32 minutes in closed session, council emerged to take no action.
Saying he himself has taken the ICE training provided for in the agreement, Police Chief Michael Addison said it is for training only, and any action called for by police officers related to ICE will be done under the direction of a supervisor.
“This is about professionalism, compliance, and preparedness. It is not about changing who we are. Our mission remains the same: protect the community, enforce the law fairly, and safeguard the constitutional rights of everyone we encounter,” Addison is quoting as saying on the Clinton Police Facebook page.
“I oppose any contract regarding citizens’ harm or negative effects to the quality of life including a facility by or with the federal government,” said Diane Anderson, a former member of the Laurens County Council during public comments time.
The “contract” referred to in the agenda item actually is a Memorandum of Understanding. It is 2 pages of single-spaced material outlining “287(g) Task Force Model - Why It Strengthens the Clinton Police Department.” Meadors presented The Chronicle with a copy after the meeting adjourned.
During council comments time, Council Member Megan Walsh said, “I wasn’t here last month to honor Black History Month and this month is Women’s History Month.” She listed important American principles as the nation approaches the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution: the 1920 amendment giving women the right to vote, Article 5 of the Bill of Rights guaranteeing all Americans the right to due process, and the First Amendments rights to free speech, freedom of the press, and the freedom to worship, or not to worship, as one sees fit (The Establishment Clause).
With all that in mind, she said her concerns about this ICE agreement have been “assuaged”.
Whether a person is undocumented or has legally attained citizenship, she said, “This is not an effort to abuse your rights as a human being in our country.”
But Council Member Natalie Cogsdill said, “We got a leak.” She said people on the council are telling others what is coming before the council even before the issue is presented. “Like Cambridge Farms, I was getting calls before we even had our agenda.”
Cogsdill said she has brought up her suspicions before in closed sessions. “We gotta be professional about this. We have one leak out of seven.”
No other council member weighed in on the issue of leaks or the City’s agreement with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. When it was his turn to speak, Mayor Randy Randall adjourned the meeting.
What the City gave to The Chronicle is 2 sheets with Addison’s name at the top that has 6 explanatory sections, each with several bullet points. The introduction says, “For Clinton PD, this is not a philosophical shift. It is a training and operational enhancement tool” and, later in section two, it says, “The 287(g) Task Force Model formalizes and enhances what we have already been doing - but with better training, clearer authority, and direct federal coordination.”
Section 4’s heading says, “It focuses on Criminal Activity - Not Civil Enforcement.”
The agreement makes “strategic sense” for the community because, “Clinton is growing. With increased housing development, expanding population, and greater service demand:” and it lists 3 bullet points including “regional criminal activity patterns shift”.
Communities throughout the nation are dealing with their relationships with ICE and the nation’s “mass deportation” policy - the SC legislature is considering a bill that would require local law enforcement agreements. In Social Circle, Georgia (about 40 miles east of Atlanta off I-20), leaders are considering the impact of a $38B “mega” ICE detention center - according to a Fox 5 Atlanta report, local leaders said ICE told them it is moving from 300 to 34 detention centers as they transition from private operations to facilities owned and run by the federal government.
The community was toured March 2 by U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock. ICE says it is “not a warehouse” - the Georgia facility will hold up to 10,000 detainees, the television report said, and could produce a $1B economic impact.
WHAT OUR UNITED STATES SENATOR, who is up for re-election, thinks:
Sen. Graham wants to ban state, local ‘sanctuary’ policies on immigration enforcement
BY: ARIANA FIGUEROA - MARCH 10, 2026 2:00 PM
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans during a Tuesday hearing laid the groundwork for legislation that would prevent state and local governments from making decisions on whether to limit cooperation with the federal government on immigration enforcement.
Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham of South Carolina argued that sanctuary cities — a term used by critics — undercut federal law, and local policies shielding immigrants without legal status should be banned. President Donald Trump has called on Republicans who control Congress to act.
“What’s the upside of ignoring federal law and keeping people like this out of federal custody?” Graham said. “It’s a political choice.”
As the Trump administration aims to carry out mass deportations, federal immigration officials have increased enforcement in the interior of the country, targeting cities with high immigrant populations that are led by Democrats such as Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and the District of Columbia.
All those cities have policies that bar assistance to the federal government in immigration enforcement.
“Our Democratic friends are accepting of a sanctuary policy. They don’t think it’s a problem. I do,” Graham said. “Let’s have a debate. Let’s have a vote. This will be good for the country going into 2026 as to who should be in charge of controlling our borders and enforcing law.”
He did not cite specific legislation he favors, but last month he introduced a bill, S.3805, that would make it unlawful for states and local governments to pass laws that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
One of the witnesses tapped by Republicans, former DHS Secretary Chad Wolf, who served in the first Trump administration, agreed.
“To restore the rule of law, the era of sanctuary cities needs to come to an end,” Wolf said.
Immigration enforcement funds
The top Democrat on the committee, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, said the committee should instead be conducting oversight of the $170 billion Congress provided to the Department of Homeland Security through the 2025 tax cuts and spending package known as the “Big, Beautiful Bill.”
He argued that under that funding, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has conducted aggressive immigration enforcement, wearing masks and conducting warrantless arrests.
“We now have a secret police called ICE,” Merkley said.
He noted that three U.S. citizens have been killed by federal immigration agents: Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota, and Ruben Martinez in Texas.
Merkley also pushed back on the assumption that immigration enforcement does not occur in states and cities that are referred to by Republicans as sanctuary cities.
“Sanctuary is a bit of a misnomer,” Merkley said. “It refers to the decision that local police will serve as local police and not be commandeered to be assisting ICE agents.”
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, said in his state, there is a legal precedent to not hold an immigrant for ICE to pick up because it would be regarded as an unlawful detainment.
“It is binding law that state and local officials who hold somebody under an ICE detainer, where ICE hasn’t bothered to get a warrant, can be held civilly liable,” Whitehouse said.
Graham took issue with the requirement for a judicial warrant and said the need for it to deport someone is “stupid.”
“All of a sudden we’re Nazis,” Graham said.
Democrats are calling for ICE to use judicial warrants when making an arrest of a person in the country without legal authority, not for deportations.
Budget Committee role
Democrats argued that the Budget Committee instead of immigration policy should be addressing fiscal issues, such as the spike in oil prices due to President Donald Trump’s decision to join Israel in its war with Iran.
California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla said Tuesday’s hearing was “off-base.”
“Gas prices are spiking because of an unauthorized war with Iran,” he said.
Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico agreed, and said the hearing should focus on affordability and the rising cost of living.
Graham said he would hold a future hearing on affordability.
Ariana covers the nation's capital for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include immigration, congressional policy and legal challenges with a focus on how those policies impact the lives of immigrants and migrants coming to the U.S.
SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
