The Fight

On March 31, 2026, the St. Charles County Council voted unanimously to approve Bill 5474, entering a formal 287(g) partnership with ICE under the Task Force Model — the most expansive 287(g) variant, which lets local officers question and act on immigration status during routine police work like traffic stops and 911 calls.

The bill was requested by County Chief of Police Kurt Frisz and sponsored by Council Chair Mike Elam. It was introduced ~3 weeks earlier (March 10) with no council discussion. At the March 31 meeting the room was packed wall-to-wall with residents, business owners, the Migrant and Immigrant Community Action Project (MICA), and the ACLU of Missouri. Multiple citizens spoke against it; it passed anyway.

Key Details

• Vote: Unanimous council approval, March 31, 2026
• Model: Task Force Model (street-level immigration authority)
• Officers: 10 to undergo online, self-paced training
• Compensation: County stated it receives no monetary gain from the agreement
• Discretion: Officials said immigration checks would be at officer discretion

Why This Matters

1. Metro-edge expansion: St. Charles is a populous St. Louis-metro county. Its adoption contrasts sharply with St. Louis city (which passed a 5-year detention-facility ban, see st-louis-city-mo-detention-ban) and St. Louis County, neither of which has signed 287(g).
2. Task Force Model: The most aggressive form — this is street-level immigration enforcement, not just jail screening. Suburban St. Louis police added to MO’s 60+ agreements.
3. Process concern: Introduced quietly with no discussion, then rammed through over packed-room opposition — a template advocates flagged for the county-by-county rollout.

Sources

• STLPR: St. Charles County passes bill to formally collaborate with ICE (2026/03/31)
• First Alert 4: St. Charles County unanimously passes ICE partnership (2026/03/31)
• KBIA: St. Charles County police now have formal partnership with ICE (2026/04/02)
• FOX2: St. Charles County approves ICE partnership, sparks debate