Residents urge Butler County to end ICE detainee contract; commissioners say no pending action

Dozens of residents told the Butler County Board of Commissioners on Jan. 13 that the county should end its contract to house detainees for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, describing the arrangement as harmful to immigrants and the broader community.

"By continuing the ICE contract in Butler County Jail, it makes us complicit with the atrocities we have seen," said Kelly Fightmaster of St. Clair Township, one of many speakers who urged the board to rescind the agreement. Dorothy Joseph of Oxford said "the ICE contract has to end" and referenced the recent death of Renee Nicole Goode as a reason for immediate action.

Speakers linked the contract to public-safety and civil-rights concerns, argued it undermines trust between immigrant communities and local law enforcement, and called the financial relationship "blood money." Several speakers cited Attorney General Dave Yost’s August 26, 2025 opinion to argue that the board — not the sheriff alone — has contracting authority over detention agreements.

Commission staff and a commissioner responded that the board’s role is administrative and fiduciary: it reviews contracts for legality and fiscal responsibility but does not supervise day-to-day operations of independently elected officials, including the sheriff. "We do not tell other elected officials how to run their offices," the commissioner said, adding that the contract had been reviewed and that there was no pending action before the board on terminating it.

Several speakers made specific accusations about ICE tactics and recent incidents, and multiple residents urged the board to use its contracting authority if it chose to do so. Other commenters defended the sheriff’s approach and urged the county to maintain the contract, saying housing detainees is lawful and part of keeping the community safe.

The board did not vote on the ICE contract at the meeting. Commissioners noted public comment was entered into the record and said changing the federal immigration system is primarily a matter for federal officials; they said contract decisions are exercised with legality and long-term fiscal interest in mind. No next step on the contract was announced; the board moved on to routine reports and adjourned.

Provenance: Public comments and the commissioners’ response are recorded in the Jan. 13 meeting transcript beginning with the public-comment announcement and continuing through the commissioner’s reply. The transcript includes multiple individual statements urging termination and at least one citizen citing the Attorney General’s August 26, 2025 opinion that the Board of County Commissioners has authority over such detention agreements.

Ending: The board accepted routine reports and adjourned; it did not place any new action to rescind or modify the ICE contract on this meeting’s agenda.