RUTHERFORD COUNTY, TN – The Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office (RCSO) is moving forward with a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to work with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE). Sheriff Mike Fitzhugh emphasized that no major changes are expected under the agreement and that deputies will not be going into the community to make arrests that are focused on the immigration status of an individual...Under the federal 287(g) program, RCSO will operate under the Warrant Service Officer (WSO) model.

The MOU, signed by the county on August 28, 2025, grants deputies authority to execute civil immigration warrants inside the Rutherford County Adult Detention Center. However, the program does not authorize deputies to perform immigration enforcement during routine duties outside of the jail, according to ICE guidelines.

During the August 25, 2025 Public Safety Committee meeting at the County Courthouse, Fitzhugh again reiterated that RCSO deputies are not tasked with actively searching for or arresting undocumented individuals in the communityTheir authority applies only within the jail setting under the WSO model.

Across Tennessee, approximately 26 law enforcement agencies are participating in one of ICE’s three main partnership programs. Among them, only three agencies — the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, the Sparta Police Department, and the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security — have signed onto the Task Force Model (TFM), which extends limited immigration enforcement authority to routine police duties. RCSO, meanwhile, continues to focus solely on the Warrant Service Officer model within its detention center.

As previously noted by the Sheriff's Office in a release sent to WGNS:

"Thank you for your inquiry regarding Rutherford County and the federal 287(g) Warrant Service Officer (WSO) program.

As declared by Sheriff Fitzhugh during the Public Safety Commission meeting on August 25, 2025, the pending status of the 287(g) MOU with ICE will not create any changes in conduct pertaining to the Deputies of the RCSO but simply serve to clarify and streamline detention staff responsibilities. Additionally, those responsibilities have been ongoing for many years and affect only those individuals that are booked into the RCSO jail as a result of being arrested for committing a crime in Rutherford County.

Citizens of Rutherford County can be assured that the RCSO will continue to concentrate its efforts on enforcing state and local laws, as well as managing the care of those housed within the RCSO detention facility in a manner consistent with the history of the RCSO and its dedication to the community we serve."