Coryell County eyes ICE agreement, juvenile probation office renovations

A 92-bed Coryell County jail staffed by about two dozen employees could soon run under a new federal immigration booking process, a change that would reach deep into daily jail operations in Gatesville.

The Coryell County Commissioners Court voted Tuesday, April 14, to approve a Memorandum of Agreement between the Coryell County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The deal puts the county into the statewide 287(g) program created under Senate Bill 8, which took effect Jan. 1, 2026, and directs the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts to administer grants for participating sheriffs.

Under the agreement, local officers would receive ICE training to identify and detain immigrants who are in the country illegally, with an estimated $80,000 grant available to the county for participation. Sheriff Scott Williams had previously told commissioners that the arrangement could shorten the three-to-four-day gap before ICE pickup by notifying agents as soon as an undocumented detainee is booked. In a small jail where every bed and every shift matters, that faster handoff could affect staffing, cell space and the pace of intake.

ICE said the 287(g) program dates to a 1996 federal immigration law and lets state and local officers carry out specified immigration functions under ICE direction and oversight. As of April 8, the agency said it had signed 1,637 agreements across 39 states and two U.S. territories, including 980 warrant-service officer agreements, 486 task-force agreements and 171 jail-enforcement agreements.

The court then turned to a different county pressure point: whether to renovate office space for juvenile probation at 113 South 7th Street in Gatesville. The Coryell County Juvenile Probation Department says its work includes helping juvenile offenders and their families while also supporting victims through restitution-related matters.

County Judge Roger Miller said Precinct 1 Commissioner Kyle Matthews was putting together a cost breakdown, with estimates around $156,000. Rather than act immediately, the court asked Matthews to keep refining the numbers and to sort out whether the work should be done in-house or contracted out.

The two items put the county’s priorities in sharp relief. One decision tied Coryell County more closely to state and federal immigration enforcement, while the other focused on the space and service needs of juvenile probation in a county of 83,093 people, with Gatesville itself home to 16,135 residents. The court also handled consent-agenda items, a delinquent tax-collections presentation and a Road and Bridge report, but the day’s biggest questions were about where the county can absorb change fastest, and what kind of public service will come first.