Bulletin Nine: The Quiet Spread of ICE Authority Through Your County Sheriff
Where Local Deputies Become Federal Agents—and the Gospel Wears a Badge
Bulletin Nine: The Quiet Spread of ICE Authority Through Your County Sheriff:
Where Local Deputies Become Federal Agents—and the Gospel Wears a Badge
By Robert J. Rei, May 7, 2025
Christian County, Missouri has just shown us what the future looks like under Project 2025.
It is a fusion of federal power, local enforcement, and religious-nationalist grooming—hidden in plain sight.
A recently updated ICE Memorandum of Agreement, revised on March 7, 2025, allows the Department of Homeland Security to deputize local law enforcement officers as federal immigration agents under the 287(g) Task Force Model.
This means local deputies now carry the legal authority to:
Arrest without a warrant.
Serve federal detainers.
Issue immigration charges.
Interrogate suspected non-citizens.
They do all of this under ICE authority, but without direct federal oversight. Local chain of command, federal powers.
This is the revival of the Trump-era 287(g) Task Force Model—the most aggressive version of the program.
Obama phased it out due to civil rights abuses. Trump reactivated it. Now, in 2025, it has returned with sharper teeth and a broader mandate.
But that’s not the whole story.
According to
Juan April has reported that in the state of Missouri the Christian County Sherriff’s Office has—signed up for the ICE Jail Enforcement model on March 21st and Warrant Services Officer model March 26th. They are pending the TASK FORCE MODEL AGREEMENT. [287(g) Task force Model]1
Upon direct examination of the Christian County Sheriff’s website, there is an internal link to a “Citizens Academy.” On its surface, it is described as community outreach. In truth, it mirrors the ICE Citizens Academy launched under Trump—a program used to indoctrinate civilians into the culture of immigration enforcement, complete with ride-alongs, arrest simulations, and anti-immigrant rhetoric.
(For further information, see ICE’s official Citizen’s Academy program: ice.gov/outreach-programs/citizens-academy) or see below note #22
These Citizens Academies are not benign. They are grooming grounds for ideological loyalty—a preparation path for civilians to internalize the ethos of deportation, suspicion, and racialized control.
The line between citizen and agent is being intentionally blurred.
The badge may be local.
The powers are federal.
The mission is ideological.
This is not about border security. Christian County is in the middle of Missouri.
What we are seeing is the construction of a decentralized federalized force—under color of law—preparing for domestic targeting.
Not just of immigrants, but of all those who dissent.
It is not only a legal structure.
It is a spiritual operation.
It is white Christian nationalism in law enforcement clothing.
And it is already operational.
You were never supposed to notice.
But now you do.
Read the MOA. Understand what it deputizes.
(Task Force Model Memorandum of Agreement fillable PDF)
Look at your county. Search your sheriff’s site.
If they are holding a Citizens Academy—attend it, observe it, record it, if possible.
A “National Map of 287(g) Agreements” can be found at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center website: https://www.ilrc.org/practitioners/national-map-287g-agreements
This bulletin is your signal flare.
If you are ready for the deeper layers, Friday’s essay will show you exactly what this means.
Because the truth is no longer hiding.
It is wearing a badge.
Thank you for reading,
Robert J. Rei, May 7, 2025
Citizen's Academy, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, ICE-Outreach > Programs, Retrieved May 7, 2025, https://www.ice.gov/outreach-programs/citizens-academy
Our goal is to strengthen the bond with local leaders and work together to address issues affecting our communities.
Some Special Agent in Charge (SAC) offices host citizen's academies that provide selected business, religious, civic, and community leaders a unique opportunity to learn the role of federal law enforcement in their local community.
Participants learn about HSI’s authorities and offices, experience HSI operations (HSI-Homeland Security Investigations), learn how we serve, and learn how to partner with us to improve the safety and security of our local communities.
Our Citizen's Academy consists of a 7-week curriculum that meets once a week. Each session is approximately 3 hours. Attendees learn about HSI investigations in hands-on, interactive activities, such as:
Mock surveillance operations
Firearms demonstration and hands-on experience
Tactics and operations demonstrations
Candidates must meet the following criteria:
Be a recognized business, religious, or community leader.
Live and/or work within the SAC's jurisdiction.
Be at least 21 years old.
Consent to a limited background investigation.
Attend all meetings.
Contact your local SAC office to learn about upcoming Citizen's Academy sessions.
Oh, goody. That's the county immediately south of the one where I live.
This criminalising governmental development bears similar hallmarks to that of the UK’s Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act of 2021. Wherein the writ of Habeus Corpus can be ignored and sexualised violence against children greenlit without judicial oversight in the pursuit of any crimes designated as such by the UK state. It would seem this current move into full autocracy is shared by both the UK & the US.