BUTLER COUNTY — Some area sheriff’s deputies are now allowed to make immigration arrests as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
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Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones expanded his office’s role in federal immigration enforcement.
This makes his deputies the first in Ohio to receive credentials to allow them to make immigration arrests, according to our news partner, WCPO-TV in Cincinnati.
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Under this model, deputies will be allowed to enforce “limited immigration authority during routine police enforcement,” WCPO said.
This includes traffic stops.
“Every state is a border state,” Sheriff Jones told WCPO back in February.
It is in addition to the Butler County Sheriff Department’s renewed contract with ICE.
Under that deal, the agency is paid to detain and transport people facing deportation, WCPO reports.
“We charge them an amount, and we have a contract with them, and that helps pay the cost of what we do here,” said Jones.
Four other counties across Ohio have contracts with ICE. This includes Fayette, Seneca, Portage, and Lake counties, WCPO said.
Immigration advocates have also expressed concern about the program.
A woman told WCPO that a lot of deportations start with traffic enforcement.
“The Hispanic community is being targeted,” said Samantha Searls, the Immigration Justice Program Director at Ignite Peace. “In traffic law enforcement, that is how a lot of deportations start ... and to me, that feels wrong because if I were to commit that crime, my punishment would look completely different, and I would still get to go home to my family.”
WCPO says deputies must complete 40 hours of training by an ICE instructor.
But it remains unclear what guides these deputies when identifying potential undocumented immigrants during encounters.
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