Lorain County commissioners adopt resolution reaffirming county is not a sanctuary jurisdiction

The Lorain County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt a resolution reaffirming that Lorain County is not a sanctuary jurisdiction.

The resolution, presented to the board and approved after discussion, was prompted by media reports and a federal list that temporarily identified the county as a sanctuary jurisdiction. Sheriff Jack Hall told the commissioners he had worked with regional federal partners and was told the county has been removed from the Department of Homeland Security list.

The resolution matters because commissioners said misinformation in recent days prompted public concern and questions about federal funding. Sheriff Jack Hall told the board he had contacted supervisors at U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and received confirmation through regional channels that "Lorain County has been officially removed from any sanctuary jurisdictional list that was created by the Department of Homeland Security." He also said the removal of the county from that list does not affect federal funding the county receives for its task force, which the sheriff stated amounts to about $117,000 annually.

Sheriff Hall described the county's operational history with federal partners while answering commissioners' questions. He said his office had contacted ICE or Border Patrol in 22 incidents since he took office; of those, about 20 related to labor or drug trafficking investigations at hotels along interstate exits. He said federal partners typically responded to pick-ups in an average of 12 to 35 minutes and that, in one case, a person under federal indictment was held in county custody for about 90 minutes before transfer to federal agents. Hall said his office found no evidence that the sheriff's office or other county public offices had been out of compliance with federal law.

Board members said the media attention and threats reported to county officials made it appropriate to issue an official resolution to put the matter to rest. The board approved the resolution by voice vote; commissioners recorded their votes as "aye." The resolution's text states, in part, that "Lorain County is not nor has ever been a Sanctuary County in the state of Ohio" and reaffirms the county's support for legal immigration.

Commissioners directed staff and the sheriff's office to continue investigating how the county appeared on the federal list and to work with congressional and senatorial offices that assisted during the review. Separately, commissioners said they will discuss law-enforcement funding and a possible sales-tax revenue stream for county law enforcement at a future meeting this month; the sheriff and staff were asked to appear for that discussion.

The board scheduled follow-up work and said it would prepare a separate resolution and public discussion about sheriff funding and sales-tax allocations at the next meeting cycle.