Sheriff Jones calls out president pointing to cost of housing illegal immigrants

Credit: Journal News

Flanked by poster boards of President Joe Biden and an illegal immigrant booked into the jail 11 times, Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones on Friday said Biden’s claim there is no border issue “is a lie” and urged victims of crimes committed by illegal immigrant to sue.

Since July 1, 2021, the Butler County Jail has housed 999 illegal immigrants with holders for deportation, Jones said. The total state and local charges for the those 999 inmates is 1,757 and the cost to house them in the jail is $1,816,796, according to the sheriff’s office.

Butler County Sheriff held a press conference Friday, March 29 speaking about the border crisis. NICK GRAHAM/STAFF

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“So when you ask how does this effect local law enforcement, we are not a border state … This is how it effects (us),” Jones said.

The sheriff pointed to Fermin Garcia-Gutierrez, who he said has been in jail 11 times using different names and three dates of birth. Most recently. Garcia-Gutierrez was arrested March 16 for carrying a concealed weapon, having weapons while intoxicated, obstructing and a ICE holder.

Jones said Garcia-Gutierrez has been to prison three times and deported seven times.

“Says it takes him two weeks to get back,” the sheriff said.

The maximum sentence for the current charges is two years and seven months, according to the sheriff.

“We are going to try to give him a little taste of state prison here in Ohio,” Jones said.

Jones said fentanyl is made in China and “Mexico is bringing it over.”

Mark Murphy, a Butler County father whose daughter died of fentanyl, and who has visited the border, said “this is real. My daughter was poisoned by fentanyl in Butler County two years ago … it is killing young Americans.”

Jones pointed to a poster board depicting Biden, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

“Anybody who has been a victim of a crime, your should sue that guy (Mayorkas) when he is not working for the president of the United States. You should sue him personally,” Jones said.

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