If Willie Sutton were still here, he’d look for loot in ridiculous immigration enforcement spending
Officers from the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security at a traffic stop in Memphis in October, 2025. (Photo by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
William “Willie” Francis Sutton Jr., the robber who plundered banks and jewelry stores during a 40-year career, said he targeted banks because, “That’s where the money is.” He stole an estimated $2 million and spent more than half of his adult life behind bars.
Were Sutton alive today however, he’d likely target the Department of Homeland Security. That agency has doled out tons of federal money to local law enforcement here in Kansas, and the Shawnee County Sheriff’s office has inked just such a deal. Kansas Reflector obtained a redacted copy of a memorandum of agreement between the federal government and the sheriff’s office.
Under the signed MOA, each “trained and credentialed TFO (task force officer) will receive up to $7,500 for essential equipment including a laptop and a mobile phone with cellular service upon becoming operational.”
“Operational” means the LEA (law enforcement agency) having “a signed MOA, trained and credentialed TFOs, and the LEA making 287 (g) arrests in accordance with the MOA.”
Qualified law enforcement agencies “receive up to $100,000 for the purchase of new vehicles for each signed MOA upon becoming operational.”
“This partnership is more than a program — it’s a shared mission,” said an official with a redacted name. “By working together, we are building a safer, stronger America. Your dedication and professionalism inspire us every day, and we are proud to stand with you as we take the 287(g) program to the next level.”
What is 287(g)?
It’s a section of federal law allowing local officials to work with the federal government on immigration enforcement.
President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14159, or the “Protecting the American People from Invasion Act,” the day he took office in January 2025. It authorized state and local law enforcement officials, as determined by the secretary of Homeland Security, to be “qualified and appropriate under section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.”
According to the MOA, “several states, including but not limited to Florida and Georgia, have passed or are considering state legislation mandating LEAs to seek out and enter into memorandums of agreement (MOA) with ICE pursuant to a partnership under the 287(g) Program.”
The outlay here would have left Willie Sutton salivating.
According to federal spending analyses, Congress has dumped $268.9 billion into this administration’s mass deportation and detention agenda across DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and other related agencies.
That number includes funds from H.R.1, or Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which contributed $175.6 billion. The Secure America Act chipped in $52.5 billion, and the DHS appropriations for fiscal year 2025 added 33.5 billion.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican seeking reelection against Democrat Chris Mann, has told news organizations that the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, 35 counties and 10 cities have implemented collaboration agreements with ICE — so far.
Kobach said the federal agency needs local assistance.
Mann argued that Kansas sheriffs and police chiefs manage departments already stretched thin, without adding immigration enforcement responsibilities.
This spending has occurred along with ruthless cuts to the social safety net. Trump cleaved $186 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides monthly food benefits to low-income individuals and families, serving more than 42 million people each month.
His administration also slashed $990 billion from Medicaid over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis. It’s the largest reduction to Medicaid in U.S. history.
But there’s more to this than money.
This spending feels like both a jobs program for the president’s base and a way of reducing hunted human beings into salaries for those jobs. Skewed budget choices threaten the survival of rural hospitals while also demonstrating that there really was enough money for social uplift efforts.
It was the will to help people that went lacking.
The money in these agency budgets would have left Sutton plotting on how to pinch some for himself. He was one of the first ever fugitives named to the FBI’S Ten Most Wanted List.
According to the FBI’s website, despite robbing banks, “Sutton had the reputation of a gentleman; in fact, people present at his robberies stated he was quite polite. One victim said witnessing one of Sutton’s robberies was like being at the movies, except the usher had a gun. When asked why he robbed banks, Sutton simply replied, “Because that’s where the money is.”
Sutton acquired the nicknames “The Actor” and “Slick Willie” for his various disguises.
Had he not died at age 79 in Spring Hill, Florida, DHS might have been on the lookout for a smartly dressed but suspicious centenarian casing the joint, looking for one last big score.
Mark McCormick is a journalist and a nonprofit executive. He’s also the author of four books including “Barry Sanders: Now You See Him” (a New York Times bestseller), “Some Were Paupers. Some Were Kings: Dispatches from Kansas,” and his latest, “Kansas Matters: America’s Social Faultlines.” Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.