The Butler County Commission in February approved an amendment to the contract the sheriff has with the U.S. Marshals Service to add ICE prisoners, effective March 5.
“I was surprised that the county rubber-stamped this request for the ICE contract, knowing there is this active court case. Any abuse, any denial of medical treatment, any failure to follow religious observance, any civil rights violation we hear about, we can go back to the court. We can grow the case,” said Lynn Tramonte, the executive director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance.
The lawsuit claims that one of the alleged incidents with a Butler County corrections officer resulted in Bayong losing a tooth. Sheriff Richard Jones previously told this news outlet that the men — both no longer housed at the jail — were noncompliant while in the jail, with appropriate use of force being used.
This news outlet asked the sheriff’s office for comment on detainee safety, as well as clarification on ICE contract details and oversight for ICE detention centers.
Sgt. Kim Peters, a public information officer for the Butler County Sheriff’s Office, replied in a statement that the ICE contract is still under negotiation.
Peters said the facility passed necessary inspections for ICE detainment.
Butler County Sheriff’s Office officials last month said they were moving quickly to prepare the jail for ICE detainees.
Butler County had a contract with ICE from 2003 until June 2021, when the sheriff canceled it. Jones previously said he canceled his contract with ICE for housing detainees awaiting immigration hearings in 2021 due to the Biden administration’s regulations.
Tramonte said families that have reached out to the Ohio Immigrant Alliance have reported “a state of terror and a state of siege.”
“Not only is ICE going to knock on your door, but you could be driving to school, dropping your kids off, going to work. You don’t know if you’re going to be stopped. And the terror isn’t limited to people without paperwork,” she said.
The Ohio Immigrant Alliance would like to see people facing immigration violations — a civil charge — not housed in facilities that typically house people facing criminal charges.
Resources exist for immigrant families with questions about their rights, Tramonte said. This includes a hotline managed by her organization.
Denise Callahan contributed to this report.
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