Grassroots group of seniors protests Ohio County’s cooperation with ICE. Only retirees are allowed to freely attend committee meetings during the day.
ICE protesters riot while singing at Ohio county meeting
Butler County residents sang “America the Beautiful” at a committee meeting protesting the county’s cooperation with ICE.
- A group of residents ages 60 to 85 have been protesting at the Butler County Commission for 17 weeks.
- Demonstrators are demanding the county terminate its contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
- The agreement will allow the Butler County Jail to hold ICE detainees and will bring millions of dollars in federal funding to the sheriff’s office.
HAMILTON, Ohio – A group that has grown to nearly 70 people attends this conservative Ohio commissioners conference weekly to protest the agency’s agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Most of them are grandmothers.
“I’m here because I’m outraged. I’m here because I’m angry,” Hamilton resident Kathy Stevens said at the Nov. 18 Butler County Commissioners meeting. “I’m here because I need to be able to look my grandchildren in the eyes and say I wasn’t silent.”
This group of Butler County residents has been addressing commission meetings in Hamilton for 17 weeks. They are asking the commissioner to cancel a March agreement between Sheriff Richard Jones and ICE that allows the Butler County Jail to hold people facing deportation.
Commissioners approved the agreement, which brought millions of federal dollars to the county.
At a recent committee meeting, more than 70 people sat, stood or spilled out the door. Most were white women with silver and white cropped hair. After the rally, they protested outside in fleece jackets and handmade signs, braving the November rain.
Committee meetings encourage residents to unite
Hamilton resident Sharon Meyer criticized the county’s agreement with ICE, saying it sends a message: “If you don’t look like us, bring your passport to Butler County.”
Some shed tears as speakers shared the fear of neighbors, friends, and their grandchildren’s classmates over ICE arrests and detention. Near the end of the public comment portion of the meeting, critics of the contract began singing “America the Beautiful” after one of the committee members told them to stop.
Anne Jantzen, 82, of Seven Mile, first began appearing before the commission over the summer to protest the county’s agreement with ICE. There she met people with similar beliefs and started an email chain.
“They said, ‘I heard about you and I want to be a part of this,'” she told The Enquirer, part of the USA TODAY Network, after the meeting.
Their group, Butler County for Immigrant Justice, has an age range of 60 to 85, she said. Retirees are more likely than younger people to be able to attend committee meetings held at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesdays.
“I can do it, so I need to do it,” Jantzen said.
The meeting will also be streamed online, but speakers must be present for public comment.
“Dirty Money Contract”
President Donald Trump won Butler County in 2024 with 62% of the vote. Additional funding from the federal government to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office began arriving this month.
Stephens, the Butler County Immigrant Justice representative, called the deal a “dirty money deal” and said it “emboldens racists.”
“They use the dehumanizing word ‘illegal’ in the same way they use the N-word,” she says.
Hamilton resident Melanie Stearns said the county’s cooperation with ICE gives the area a bad reputation. According to the current ICE contract, the sheriff’s office is the only one in Ohio with a Jail Enforcement Model Agreement that allows the Butler County Jail to hold ICE detainees for extended periods of time.
“We look like idiots, just like we did with cats and J.D. Vance,” he said, referring to the vice president’s comments last year that migrants in Springfield, Ohio, about an hour north of Butler County, were eating pets. Vance grew up in Middletown, Butler County.
Jay Stevison, a resident who joined the group after the meeting, became teary-eyed as he talked about his three grandchildren who have Latino parents.
“If ICE tried to take them away, I would have to protect them with my life,” he said.
Secretary explains why ICE contract will not be canceled
Twenty residents voiced their opposition to the contract for about an hour. No one spoke in favor of it.
The three commissioners, all Republicans, agreed.
Commissioner Cindy Carpenter, who has served on the board since 2011, said sheriffs “solely” set policy, determine operations and make decisions about cooperation with federal agencies, including ICE.
But Butler County Attorney Mike Gmoser said the sheriff’s office is not an independent contractor. Jones’ office requires the commissioner’s permission to sign most contracts and agreements, as it does with ICE contracts.
The day after the meeting, Carpenter said in a phone call with the Enquirer that the commissioners aim to help run the county without injecting their own political opinions.
“If we start compromising the judgment of our officers, we will lose a lot of their trust,” she said.
A resolution passed by commissioners in February amended the agreement between the sheriff and the U.S. Marshals Service to allow the jail to house ICE detainees. The commissioner may take action to terminate the agreement. ICE documents state that either party can terminate or suspend the contract.
Commissioner TC Rogers cited a CNN report saying there will be a need for ICE arrests due to a surge in migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2023. The surge declined under President Joe Biden and slowed further under the Trump administration.
