KPD tells oversight panel state law requires notifying ICE when NCIC shows removal orders

Committee members asked KPD how the department coordinates with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A KPD representative said state law requires two actions when the department encounters individuals with removal orders: notify ICE and cooperate in identification, apprehension, detention or removal when required by the order.

The representative said KPD typically does not ask a person's immigration status but learns about removal orders when running names through the National Crime Information Center (NCIC). "So once that order of removal pops up, we're now aware of that person's status," the representative said, noting the department documents whether ICE responds and generally waits a reasonable time to see if ICE will pick up the individual.

Committee members raised a specific recent incident in which an officer transported a detainee to ICE facilities. KPD said that action was contrary to department policy. The department also acknowledged increased ICE activity in the city since recent media coverage and said its policies on ICE interaction are posted online.

Several committee members asked hypotheticals about ICE presence at schools and whether school resource officers have direction to assist ICE; KPD counseled that schools or the school system should be asked for their protocols and said KPD has no standing instruction that compels officers to aid another agency's enforcement action in every circumstance.