Herndon’s Town Council voted this week to allow its police force to enter into an immigration enforcement program that would give local authorities a larger role in questioning and deporting illegal immigrants.

The town’s police already have the right to arrest illegal aliens suspected of breaking the law, but it depends on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to process and deport them. The agreement, which the Herndon council unanimously approved Tuesday evening, sets in motion a federal training program that gives some officers the authority to begin deportation proceedings locally.