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Residents, advocates urge Jackson County to curb cooperation with ICE at public hearing
Summary
Dozens of residents and community organizations testified at a Jackson County public hearing July 15, accusing local law enforcement of assisting ICE and urging greater transparency and protections for immigrant communities; county leaders pledged follow-up but said the legislature lacked a quorum to act.
Jackson County residents and immigrant-rights advocates told the county legislature on July 15 that local agencies should stop aiding federal immigration enforcement and do more to protect people living in the county.
"Demand transparency, defend due process, show our communities that local leaders will not remain silent while families live in fear," Oscar Garcia, strategy and innovation coordinator at the Maddy Rhodes Center, told the legislative body during the public hearing called to examine the county's relationship with the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Dozens of commenters described fear that ICE operations have made families afraid to go to school, work or report crimes.
The hearing featured multiple accounts from people who said Jackson County deputies were present during recent enforcement actions and from witnesses who said ICE detained people at workplaces after serving what witnesses described as search warrants for documents. At least two speakers asked the county to produce warrants and detainee names related to an operation at a food warehouse, and several urged the legislature to pursue policies limiting local cooperation with ICE.
Jackson County Executive Phil, speaking in response, said he sympathized with the community's concerns and defended the professionalism of the prosecutor's office while also urging respectful dialogue. "I share the passion with the people in this room," he said, adding that regional leaders had discussed creating an office to collect videos and testimony for review.
The legislature could not vote or introduce binding measures at the July 15 session because it lacked a quorum. The chair read the title of a proposed ordinance addressing cooperation with ICE (Ordinance 26260) and said it would be added to the packet and likely assigned to the finance and audit committee for follow-up at the legislature's next meeting.
