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Residents urge Butler County commissioners to end ICE contract during packed public comment
Summary
Multiple Butler County residents urged the Board of Commissioners to terminate the county's contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, citing perceived civil-rights harms, family separations, liability concerns and local public-safety trade-offs.
Several residents told the Butler County Board of Commissioners on Jan. 6, 2026, that the county should end its contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying the agreement exposes the county to legal and moral risks and diverts law-enforcement resources from local public safety.
"It is wrong to pick up people off our streets and to detain them in the black hole that is the Butler County Jail," said Anne Janssen during the public-comment period, urging the board to "break your contract with ICE." Janssen said the contract allows detention of people she described as having been denied due process and warned that county taxpayers could face lawsuits and other financial consequences if something goes wrong at the detention facility.
Other speakers described local harms and appealed to the board's values. Ellen Price cited Department of Justice and multi-university research she said shows immigrants are arrested and incarcerated at lower rates than U.S.-born people, arguing the studies undercut claims that immigrant detention is necessary for public safety. Linda Snow Griffin recounted a man she identified as having been detained in the Butler County Jail for more than seven months and later deported, and she described the disruption and trauma that caused his children.
Kathy McMahon Klosterman urged the commission to weigh the county's legacy and fiscal risk, saying, "Is the money worth your legacy?" Sharon Meyer asked commissioners to publicly reject the contract and referenced statements by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost about the commissioners' authority to act. Martha Barry Palachi and other speakers appealed to moral arguments against complicity in federal immigration enforcement.
No board action to end the contract occurred during the meeting; the public-comment period concluded after the speakers finished. Commissioners acknowledged the comments and proceeded to scheduled agenda items.
The commissioners had previously scheduled votes and administrative business for the meeting, including finance items and department resolutions. The board did not announce a timeline for considering changes to the ICE contract during this session.
