After the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” that allocates substantial resources into immigration enforcement along with the dramatic increase in immigration arrests in Hawaiʻi, the ACLU of Hawai‘i (“ACLU-HI”) submitted public records requests to all county police departments regarding any current agreements with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”), including its Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) agencies, in their immigration enforcement efforts in the state.

Pursuant to the Hawaiʻi Uniform Information Practices Act (“UIPA”), the ACLU-HI requested that the county police departments produce copies of any agreements they have with DHS, HSI or ICE, any correspondence the counties have had with DHS, HSI or ICE about potentially entering into collaboration agreements, and information about current collaboration efforts with immigration enforcement, such as allowing immigration officers to use county holding cells, or sending county police officers to assist with immigration raids. The ACLU-HI also asked the counties to produce copies of policies or internal guidance about county collaboration with federal immigration enforcement, including when police officers should question a person about their immigration status and when police officers should contact DHS, HSI, or ICE personnel about a person being questioned or under arrest by the county police.

The ACLU-HI received the following responses to date.

Hawai‘i Police Department

Letter from the ACLU-HI to Hawai‘i County
Acknowledgement to Requester E Hills

Responses from Hawai‘i County:

• HCPD Chief’s Memorandum February 14, 2025
• HCPD General Order 606: Arrest Policy
• 43 individual incident reports
  • Please see a redacted sample of the individual incident reports provided in response to our request. We have not published the documents in their entirety because they contain sensitive information related to the individuals who were detained. Should you wish to view a copy of the reports, please contact [email protected]. You are also welcome to file your own UIPA request to access these public records.

Kaua‘i Police Department

Letter from the ACLU-HI to Kaua‘i County

Responses from Kaua‘i County:

• Memorandum of Understanding Between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations
• Agreement Between Federal Law Enforcement Agency Participating in the Treasury Forfeiture Fund and State or Local Law Enforcement Agency for the Reimbursement of Expenses in Joint Operations
• Memorandum of Understanding Between Kaua‘i Police Department and the United States Department of Homeland Security Homeland Security Investigations Honolulu Regarding Embedding HSI Special Agents with the Kaua‘i Police Department

Maui Police Department

Letter from the ACLU-HI to Maui County

No response to date.

Honolulu Police Department

Letter from the ACLU-HI to C&C of Honolulu and Acknowledgement to Requester & Request

Responses from the City and County of Honolulu:

• Attachment A: Immigration Detainer
• CRD MOP No. 106
• CRD MOP No. 180
• HPD Policy No. 1.03
• HPD Policy No. 1.06
• HPD Policy No. 1.07
• HPD Policy No. 3.49
• HPD Policy No. 7.01
• HPD Policy No. 7.03
• HPD Policy No. 7.05
• HPD Report No. 25-242532
• IACP Policy Fact Sheet