CAPE MAY, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey sheriff's office is seeking to enroll in a program so its officers can enforce immigration laws.

The Press of Atlantic City (http://bit.ly/2mK11w3 ) obtained documents showing that the Cape May County Sheriff's Office has requested to join the 287(g) program in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement would train three officers. Those officers would investigate and process for deportation county jail inmates who are in the country illegally.

About two dozen residents protested the agreement during Tuesday's Cape May County freeholder meeting.

"Think before you act because there's a lot of them (immigrants) that work here and we need them," said Bill Causey, a local antique shop owner from West Cape May. "You're going to hurt the thing that runs our economy."

Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton said the corrections officers would work exclusively in the jail and would not be stopping anybody on the street.

ICE has agreements with a total of 37 law enforcement departments nationwide. The Monmouth and Salem county sheriff's offices and the Hudson County Corrections Department each participate in the program, which identified more than 370,000 potentially deportable immigrants and trained more than 1,500 local officers between 2006 and 2014.

"287(g) has been a very controversial program since its inception," said Chia-Chia Wang, of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker social justice organization with an office in Newark. "Now, the president came out and wanted to extend 287(g), which is concerning to us."

County Counsel Jim Arsenault said federal officials in Washington are still reviewing the county's request to join the 287(g) program.

___

Information from: The Press of Atlantic City (N.J.), http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com