Taylor’s cooperation agreement with ICE: ‘Shameful’ or ‘nothing at all’?

This reporting was made possible in part with support from the Poynter Institute.

Melody Simmons went to the Taylor City Council to object to the city’s cooperation agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and returned home with a court case. 

The police department in the Detroit suburb of 61,544 entered a 287(g) task force agreement with ICE on April 28, 2025. 

Taylor’s 287(g) contract is one of 1,373 such task force agreements in effect nationally that delegate authority to local police to perform some immigration enforcement functions, and the sole 287(g) agreement in Metro Detroit.

“The United States Constitution, which has been violated all up and down by the current administration, should be upheld for every person who is residing in the United States,” Simmons said to the city council May 5. “This is not strictly for citizens. It is for everybody who is here.”

The police department’s consideration of working with ICE is “shameful,” she said. 

Simmons asked Mayor Tim Woolley “do you understand how dangerous this is?” and he replied, “your safety is my priority.”

After a back-and-forth between the two, Council Chairman Charley Johnson raised his voice and repeatedly said Simmons was out of order and out of time, asking her to leave the podium.

Police came to the podium, and Simmons yelled: “why are you going to allow them to work with ICE?” and, as she was taken away by officers, “you don’t have to break my f—— arm!” 

Simmons is charged with disturbing the peace, a misdemeanor. She pleaded not guilty at a June 23 arraignment. 

State lawmaker backs bill encouraging ICE agreements

After the Downriver city signed the 287(g) agreement, the advocacy coalition Michigan United called on Taylor City Council to rescind it. 

“Michigan’s communities are strongest when we invest in trust, not in surveillance and deportation,” said Adonis Flores, the group’s training leader.

“Every local leader should stand up against this harmful collaboration and affirm that everyone, regardless of immigration status, deserves dignity, safety, and justice.”

After Taylor signed on, state Rep. James DeSana (R-Carleton) cosponsored a Michigan House resolution that encourages Michigan law enforcement agencies to join the 287(g) program.

“The Taylor police chief, who protects the largest city in my district, has endured harsh criticism for signing” the agreement, DeSana said in a June 2025 statement.

“This enduring criticism comes from those who support sanctuary city policies and from people who have vilified our law enforcement agencies for simply wanting to uphold the rule of law. Laws that we as legislators have passed with the expectation that our police officers will honor the oath they’ve taken to enforce and uphold them.”

Critics blow ICE deal out of proportion, police chief says

Taylor hasn’t undertaken training or conducted operations with ICE, said Police Chief John Blair, who signed the department’s 287(g) agreement. 

The deal has been blown out of proportion, he said in a phone interview. 

“It’s nothing at all. Not one thing has changed within our police department since I’ve been here, which has been 35 years.”

If an arrest warrant pops up when Taylor police run a person on the department’s computer system, officers contact the agency that holds the warrant, Blair said, “whether that’s a detainer for someone for illegal immigration or any criminal offense for any other person.

“We will never turn our back on any law enforcement agency,” he said. 

In part because of the 287(g) agreement, ICE contacts Taylor police when operating in the city, Blair said, adding that it occurred twice in 2026 as of mid-May and in no more than two instances in 2025. 

“No one wants law enforcement working in their jurisdiction without them knowing it. Hell, it could create a lot of problems,” he said. 

The “completely avoidable and tragic incident” of the Jan. 7 fatal shooting of Rene Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis is an example, he said.

If local law enforcement were on the scene, “that never would have happened,” the police chief said. 

Blair doesn’t support children being pulled out of middle school or high school by immigration officers, nor does he want people who are randomly walking down the street asked about immigration status, he told Planet Detroit.

“We don’t agree with that stuff.”

Planet Detroit asked ICE for comment on its agreement with Taylor police, and for its arrest numbers in the city. 

An ICE spokesperson said its officers enforce the country’s immigration laws as set forth by Congress and carry out their duty in accordance with law, policy, and procedure.

“We welcome and encourage any law enforcement agency in the state of Michigan to work alongside us in the interest of public safety and national security,” the spokesperson said in an email. 

ICE made 3,298 arrests in Michigan in 2025, according to the Deportation Data Project.

‘What happened in Minneapolis will not happen here’

Taylor resident Tim Kachinski stood alongside Goddard Road before the May 19 council meeting holding a sign for passing traffic. 

The sign said: “Who does Taylor PD work for? ICE who disappear you to El Salvador! Oppose 287(g),” with a U.S. flag drawn in the bottom right corner. 

Kachinski’s been attending council meetings for about a year due to the city’s agreement with ICE, he said.

“The last council didn’t vote on it and this council’s not voting on it.”

At the May 5 meeting where Simmons was removed by police, Councilman Dan Wallace said he’s from Minnesota, and his family members “were part of what was going on there,” referring to the turmoil in Minneapolis following the deployment of thousands of federal agents to the city, including the shooting of Good by an ICE officer. 

“What happened in Minneapolis will not happen here,” the councilman said, adding that he is “anti-bad police,” not anti-police.

The 287(g) contract with ICE “gets signed all the time,” he said. “We get a tremendous amount of benefit and training and materials. Things that help us citizens. It was not an agreement to be a part of them.”

Chairman Johnson said he’s “not a fan of ICE. Never have been, never will be. I see it. I know it. And I’m a white, middle-aged guy.

“When my chief, that I’ve known for quite a few years, tells me something, I believe him.”

Johnson asked Blair how many times the department has engaged with ICE.

“How many operations did we go and clear out apartments and schools? In Taylor.”
Blair replied: “zero.” 

When Johnson asked how many people were turned over to ICE in the last year by Taylor police, Blair said four, and added that one traveled over 1,300 miles to Taylor with 3,000 grams of fentanyl.

Blair gave the example of a 60-year-old American citizen with a warrant for which Taylor contacts another police agency.

“Why should a person who’s in the country illegally have more rights than that person?” he said. 

“That’s simply how we operate. I’ve said this and I will continue to say this — we’ve done nothing different than what we’ve done before I walked through the door.”

Arrest at council meeting chills free speech: Attorney

Simmons’ attorney Ren Nushaj said his client has “massive bruises” and went to an urgent care clinic after being released.

“In all of my 16 years as an attorney paying attention, I’ve never seen anything like this,” he told Planet Detroit. 

“She was within her rights to express her thoughts as she did. At the end of the day, there was a better way to handle this.”

The incident has a chilling effect on free speech, said Nushaj, who is a candidate in the Democratic primary for Michigan’s 9th Senate district. 

The council should have taken a 5-minute recess during the meeting where Simmons was removed and arrested, he said.  

“This happens. Passions often take the best out of people” when they go before public officials, the attorney said. 

Police chief Blair said Simmons’ arrest “had nothing to do with her speech. Nothing.

“The law clearly defines you do not have a lawful right to disrupt public meetings.”

Police did not rough up Simmons, he said: “She waited until she got to the aisle so her friends could videotape it and she flopped to the ground.” 

Simmons would not stop yelling once in the building’s vestibule, and was cited, released on a $100 bond, “and she was out the door in two hours,” Blair said.

Officers have escorted people out of council meetings a number of times, he said. 

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