Operation FIRE & ICE is a project of the FIRE Coalition designed to inform, educate, and enlighten state and local law enforcement agencies, community leaders, and the citizenship at large about the benefits of participation in the ICE 287(g) Delegation of Immigration Authority Program. We announced Operation FIRE & ICE in the January 2007 OBC Report "30 Pieces of Silver." It is a simple fact that 287(g) saves lives by allowing state and local law enforcement to identify criminal illegal aliens in their custody, and to process them for deportation. Talk to most state and local law enforcement officers and the vast majority will tell you their hands are tied when it comes to dealing with the problems associated with illegal aliens. Ask the same group of officers if they've heard of the ICE 287(g) Program and most will say no. This needs to change.
Over the next several months Operation FIRE and ICE leadership, partners, and volunteers will be canvassing the countryside, speaking at public and private venues, distributing brochures, flyers, cards, and other informational literature to state and local law enforcement agencies about the 287(g) program benefits.

Operation FIRE and ICE would like to expound on suggestions that groups such as the Fraternal Order of Police, American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars organize fund raisers by the local posts in areas signed up to participate in the 287(g) Delegation of Immigration Authority Program.

FIRE Coalition Deputy Director Jeff Lewis announced the launch of "Operation FIRE & ICE" at the Immigration Conference in Chicago. July 14, 2007 to promote the ICE 287(g) program. By design 287(g) enables state and local law enforcement to save lives. Months of hard work by the Chicago Minutemen, Midwest Minutemen, A Citizen's Voice, and other local northern Illinois grassroots groups paid off when Waukegan, Illinois City Council voted 8-2 to move forward with their 287(g) participation. Behind Carpentersville, Waukegan is the second city in Illinois to take the lead on turning the tide of illegal alien crime in their communities.