Kentucky sheriffs in three counties have signed formal agreements under the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s 287 G program. 287-G allows ICE to give state and local law enforcement officers authority to perform some tasks of immigration officers. Madison County is not one of those counties, but Major Tony Terry said a deputy hired a year-and-a-half ago has added ICE assistance to his other duties.
“He is a task force officer with Homeland Security and also a task force officer with the Kentucky State Police electronic crimes branch, and that's where his background comes from.”
Terry says Deputy Anthony Gatson is not authorized to make immigration-related arrests and his main job is detecting and deterring online child sexual predators.
“He's part of the Internet Crimes Against Children, and he spends a lot of his time like he was in court this morning on a child sex abuse case where these predators try to get online and corrupt our children.”
Terry said Gatson has assisted ICE in two cases, one locally and another in Woodford County, that resulted in the arrest of a total of six people.
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