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Residents urge Butler County to end ICE detainee contracts, raise legal and financial concerns
Summary
Multiple residents used the visitors comment period to demand the county end its contract housing ICE detainees at the county jail, citing alleged civil-rights violations, reimbursement shortfalls, pending lawsuits, and harm to families and public safety; commissioners said they would research and provide the ICE contract on request.
Dozens of Butler County residents used the public comment portion of the meeting to call on commissioners to end the county’s contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that allows ICE detainees to be held at the Butler County Jail.
Speakers urged the board to consider legal, moral and financial risks and asked the county to release the ICE contract and information about reimbursements. The comments included personal testimony, references to pending legal inquiries, and requests that the board give 30 days’ notice to terminate the arrangement.
"ICE agents are targeting people pursuing day to day activities," said Anne Wengler, who said she was speaking on behalf of herself and national civil-rights organizations. Cassie Stevens described a recent traffic-stop arrest of a family member’s relative and said the immigrant community was "in a state of terror right now." "None of this is normal. None of this is okay and it's not keeping us safe,"…
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