Thread: Butler County Ohio To Lose Special Power To Enforce Immigration Laws

Butler County To Lose Special Power To Enforce Immigration Laws

Published: 2/20 4:33 pm
Updated: 2/20 7:18 pm

Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones is nationally known for speaking out about illegal immigration. Jones has sent bills to Uncle Sam for housing illegals, and has been to the border to see the problems first hand.

Now, Jones is raising the alarm, because he expects to lose a unique federal status that helps him deal with illegal immigrants in his jail. Local 12's Rich Jaffe talked with both sides of this issue.

The program is designated 287G...and basically it means that a group of Butler County deputies have been trained to do the jobs of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents. Those deputies quickly and efficiently processing illegal immigrants who are in custody... through the Butler County jail for deportation. Sheriff Jones believes that program is going away in the name of politics.

A federal holding facility, little more than a year ago, 30 to 40 illegal immigrants were being shipped out of the Butler County jail every week for deportation. So many in fact, the sheriff had controversial signs on the property saying "illegal aliens here". Now the sign is gone...and the program known as 287G is about to be. The sheriff is... "Disgusted for one and the reason I'm disgusted is this has been going on for five maybe six years in the country not just here in this county and it's such an issue. Republicans won't fix it, Democrats won't fix it, the House, the Senate, the President, they keep kicking the can down the road and everybody suffers."

Jones has been one of the country's most outspoken proponents for immigration reform...even taking out billboards to make his point. His was the only sheriff's office in Ohio to have deputies receive federal training that gave some of them the powers of Immigration and Customs Officials...a program that's not being renewed. "They won't do anything because both sides are fighting for the Latino votes."

With a large Latino population in the area, the sunset of the enforcement program is seen as a relief for many people. "Not every Hispanic is a church going person, not every Hispanic is a good person, but it's true that some of our I think good people were not only living in fear but were on occasion being detained for things that really were not crimes."

But Jones says the crimes and the criminals will only get worse. "It continues non-stop. I received a call September 10th from the FBI that I was gonna be killed, myself and four other sheriff's in the United States, by people from Mexico. The drug cartel was gonna come into the United States and kill four sheriff's. I was one of the four, they were gonna kill me and my family."

Clearly that threat was not carried out, but it was considered very real and the sheriff as well as FBI agents took appropriate precautions. The sheriff says he got on that hit list because of his stand against drugs and illegal immigration. The 30 to 40 people a week his jail was deporting is now down to about 30 a month... largely he believes, as a result of politics.
One of the strongest aspects of the 287G program was that it cleared the way for a greater flow of information between state, local and federal agencies. A new program called "Secure Communities" is being promoted to replace it.

Butler County To Lose Special Power To Enforce Immigration Laws - :: Cincinnati news story :: LOCAL 12 WKRC-TV in Cincinnati

Im at a loss...loss of respect for how this country is being ran and ruined, loss of words, loss of ideas on who will take action and change this..?...drastic measures are needed to control illegals and give Americans a chance to be safe and happy in their own country