GRATIS — The Village of Gratis has suspended a partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) amid an investigation into school visits in Cincinnati by its police chief and another officer.
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Gratis Mayor Kevin Johnson confirmed to News Center 7’s John Bedell that the village has suspended its 287(g) partnership with ICE.
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Surveillance video stills that News Center 7’s I-Team got a hold of show Chief Tonina Lamanna and Officer Jeff Baylor inside three Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) last Wednesday.
CPS said they claimed to be with ICE for what the district said the pair of officers claimed was a welfare check.
During a phone conversation with News Center 7 this weekend, Baylor denied insinuating he had a federal license or that he was there on behalf of a federal agency.
“She had all the talking, I stayed silent the whole day because again, that’s not my job,” he said.
CPS’ superintendent said the two officers did not interact with any students.
ICE sent the I-Team a statement:
“ICE does not target schools for enforcement actions. (Wednesday), a local law enforcement partner attempted to verify school enrollment and conduct welfare checks on children who arrived unaccompanied across the border. To be crystal clear this was not an ICE officer or an enforcement action.”
ICE then went on to say in the statement that it started a program with state and local partners in November:
“Aimed at protecting the 450,000 unaccompanied children (UAC) illegally smuggled over the border and placed with unvetted sponsors under the Biden administration.
This new law enforcement partnership, known as the UAC Safety Verification Initiative, represents ICE’s commitment to protect vulnerable children from sexual abuse and exploitation through collaboration with 287(g) law enforcement partners. The primary focus of this initiative is to conduct welfare checks on these children to ensure that they are safe and not being exploited."
ICE did not explicitly say in the statement whether what the Gratis officers were doing in Cincinnati last week was part of its UAC Safety Verification Initiative.
In an email conversation this weekend, News Center 7 asked Lamanna if what she was doing was part of that program.
“In additional [sic] to 287g which was signed in Oct and added the UAC in March,” she replied.
We also asked her if ICE directed her to do those welfare checks on unaccompanied children?
She answered: “Yes.”
News Center 7 asked if ICE gave her a list of unaccompanied children to check on.
She said “yes.”
We asked the chief to provide copies of the UAC documents and that list. She replied:
“I have no way of getting documents to you at this time, but I do have them all and will release when advised I can.”
News Center 7 reached out ot ICE for a third time since Friday and asked questions related to Lamanna’s response, but has not received a response at this time.
Johnson told News Center 7 on Wednesday that he does not know about the status of the agreement between the village and ICE in connection with the agency’s UAC Safety Verification Initiative because he has not seen a written agreement regarding the initiative between ICE and the village.
As News Center 7 previously reported, Baylor submitted his letter of resignation on Monday. Johnson said that the letter will be acted on at the village council’s next meeting on Thursday.
That came after Baylor was placed on administrative leave along with Lamanna.
Gratis Police Department Officer Matt Jones has been named Interim Police Department Manager.
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