Benton Harbor, MI – Community members are demanding the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department cut ties with ICE by ending participation in the federal 287(g) program.

The Berrien County Sheriff's Department is one of two agencies in Southwest Michigan that have opted into the program, which allows local police departments to partner with ICE in various capacities. Berrien County’s agreement with ICE stipulates that deputies can serve immigration warrants for those in the county jail and hold individuals for up to 48 hours until they are detained by ICE agents, typically from Grand Rapids.

Berrien County is located in Southwest Michigan and represents numerous towns, including Saint Joseph, Benton Harbor and Niles. Immigrant labor is vital to the region’s agricultural economy, with a third of the state’s migrant farmworkers employed in Southwest Michigan. The majority of these workers are concentrated in Berrien County and neighboring areas.

More than 60 people have been detained by ICE after being held in the Berrien County Jail since last year. The agreement was signed between ICE and the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department in spring 2025, although a similar process has been operating in the county for over two decades.

A packed town hall was organized recently by We The People Michigan, in which residents spoke to county officials, urging the sheriff's department to end its partnership with ICE. Before the event, community members circulated a petition pushing the sheriff’s department to opt out of the agreement. Signatures in support were then presented to the officials present at the town hall.

An immigrant farmworker spoke during the event, saying they have worked in the fields for 18 years and that the county needs to end its participation in the 287(g) program.

#BentonHarborMI #MI #InJusticeSystem #ImmigrantRights

For a community that had experienced decades of racist discrimination and police violence, enough was enough. For two days, police were confronted in the streets, squad cars were destroyed, and abandoned buildings burned.

An organizer in Benton Harbor's fight for justice, JoNina Abron, chairwoman of the Southwest Michigan Coalition Against Racism and Police Brutality, told Fight Back!, “I call what happened a rebellion, because I believe the community's response was a result of years of pent up rage and frustration. The people of Benton Harbor are fed up with the years of police brutality that they have had to live with. They are outraged by the economic apartheid that they see every day. Benton Harbor's population is 95% Black. They are outraged by the racism of the criminal justice system. Their response was the culmination of many things that came together. The people of Benton Harbor saw an 11-year old boy, Trenton Patterson, struck and killed in September 2000 in another police pursuit case. They saw that nothing was done in that case.”

Benton Harbor police, along with those in the surrounding township, have a history of brutality, which has left more than a few injured or dead.

Tale of Two Cities

Benton Harbor is a small town. The folks that live there are Black. 50% of the population is unemployed. Across the river is St. Joseph. The residents are white, and it is the center for business in Berrien County, where both cities are located. The unemployment rate in white St. Joseph is 2%.

A statement from Benton Harbor community organizers shines a light on this divide. It notes, “At one time, St. Joseph and Benton Harbor were referred to as 'twin cities,' well, no more! The city of Benton Harbor is now 95% Black, while St. Joseph is 95% white. But these figures alone do not tell the whole story. There is the bridge which separates the two communities, which are two different worlds really. They are separate and unequal entities. More importantly, the bridge marks the line of demarcation between those who have power from those who are ruled over.”

The statement also pointed out, “It is no exaggeration at all to say that St. Joseph and Berrien County officials stole the available federal and state funding, which impoverished the city of Benton Harbor to the stage where it is the poorest city in Berrien County and in the state of Michigan. They robbed the community of all wealth, the same as if they had used a gun for armed robbery. All of this made St. Joseph the dominant city in Berrien County, and one of the most affluent in that state, while Benton Harbor became a beggar city of thousands of ever younger Black people. This economic apartheid is a large factor in what led to the revolt of June 17.”

Another facet of the political and economic life of Berrien County is the Whirlpool Corporation, the world's largest manufacturer of home appliances. While it's headquartered in Benton Harbor, the corporation favors the white city of St. Joseph. Fred Upton, heir to Whirlpool's founder, is a right-wing republican. Upton has done everything in his power to make government dollars flow to St. Joseph.

Struggle Continues

On June 12, community organizers issued a statement advancing the demands of the mass movement in Benton Harbor: “We call for an end to the racist outrages against the Black people of Benton Harbor by white politicians in Berrien County, Michigan. We call for an end to racial segregation and economic apartheid in this county. We call for an end to police brutality and to officially sanctioned violence against the black population of Benton Harbor. We call for an end to political disenfranchisement, neo-colonialism and the sharing of political power in Berrien County. We call for an end to the theft of community and economic development funding by county politicians, which has impoverished the black community of Benton Harbor and enriched St. Joseph's white community.”

The statement continued, “We call for the removal of all racist judges and prosecutors in the local judicial system, and immediate cessation of unjust selective prosecution of all those arrested during the June 17-18 rebellion in Benton Harbor. AMNESTY NOW! We want the criminal prosecution of: Benton Charter Township officer Wes Koza, for the death of Terrance Shurn on June 16, 2003; all officers responsible for the death of 11-year old Trenton Patterson in September, 2000; all Benton Township officers involved in the April 27, 2003 strangulation of Arthur Partee and other suspicious deaths of black people in Berrien County. Most importantly, we call for an immediate end to the reckless police pursuit policies through populated black civilian areas.”

Organizers are also calling for a boycott of tourism to St Joseph. The next issue of Fight Back! will contain an account of the ongoing protest movement.

No Justice, No Peace!

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