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Residents press commissioners to end ICE detention contract and raise concerns about detainee treatment
Summary
Multiple public commenters urged Butler County to end its contract to house ICE detainees, cited alleged jail conditions and described individual detention cases including a named detainee; speakers said county facilities should not be used to detain noncriminal immigrants.
At the March 31 Butler County Board of Commissioners meeting, several residents urged the board to end the county’s agreement to house detainees under federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody and raised concerns about conditions and the human impact of detention.
Sharon Meyer (S17) told commissioners, “Release the county residents for the co responsibility of detaining ICE prisoners in our jail,” and asked them to stop using county staff and facilities for immigration detention. Meyer said many protesters had gathered across the county and urged the board to rescind the ICE contract to stop “violating the constitutional rights of all noncriminal immigrants incarcerated there.”
Ann Jansen (S19) called attention to a detainee she named as Carlos Garcia Oden, whom she said has been held since Jan. 23. Jansen described him as an attorney and former mayor in Venezuela and said his attorneys had not been told why he was arrested; she said he faced danger if returned to Venezuela and urged the county to stop housing noncriminal immigration detainees.
Several other speakers, including Linda Snow Griffin (S14), Ellen Price (S15), Linda Spurrier (S18) and others, described alleged poor conditions and called the county’s contract a legal and moral liability. One speaker referenced recent reporting and lawsuits alleging abuses in ICE detention settings.
Commissioners did not debate or vote on contract termination during the meeting. The public‑comment record contains multiple personal accounts and calls for the board to reconsider the county’s role in federal immigration detention; no county staff report or legal analysis was presented in response at the meeting.
