He told the commissioners that Reyes Rodriguez, of Dayton, is living here with permission from the federal government and his wife and son are currently in the process of getting asylum from Honduras.
Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones had an ICE contract for housing detainees awaiting immigration hearings from 2003 until June 2021, when he canceled it because he did not agree with Biden administration’s regulations. Butler County commissioners approved an amendment to the contract the sheriff has with the U.S. Marshals Service to add ICE prisoners earlier this year.
There is a pending lawsuit filed in 2020 in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati by two refugees, Bayong Brown Bayong and Admed Adem, who claim they were repeatedly beaten and threatened during their ICE detainment in Butler County. Jones previously told this news outlet that the men — both no longer housed at the jail — were noncompliant while in the jail and appropriate use of force was used.
When asked about canceling the sheriff’s ICE contract, Commissioner Don Dixon had this to say: “We don’t tell the sheriff what to do with the jail, he runs the jail. He’s the highest elected official in Butler County for law enforcement.”
What’s happening in Southern Ohio?
• Trump budget moves to Senate: The Big, Beautiful Bill Act passed the U.S. House before Memorial Day. Only two Republicans broke ranks with the White House to vote against the plan — one of them was U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Troy. “While I love many things in the bill, promising someone else will cut spending in the future does not cut spending,” Davidson said, expressing concerns about Republicans creating a larger deficit. Also voicing disappointment with Trump’s tax and budget package was Elon Musk, who dislikes how the bill is expected to drive up the national deficit.
• DOGE and Musk: Musk announced his departure from his government role this week. Budget-cutting teams led by Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency have been slashing federal employment, programs and properties since January. Congress still hasn’t voted on any DOGE cuts. Republican U.S. Rep. Dave Taylor, of Clermont County, said Congress must “actively codify DOGE’s findings to ensure the responsible use of taxpayer dollars.”
• Baby balloons and NATO: One of the most famous — and to others, infamous — balloons in the world came to Dayton, depicting Trump as a big baby. The “Trump Baby” balloon was inflated on East Second Street downtown on Saturday morning as part of protest activities during the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, which wrapped up in Dayton on Monday.
• Dayton law firm: A federal judge struck down an executive order that sought to sanction a law firm with a Dayton presence. The Trump administration’s executive order aimed to mandate the suspension of attorney security clearances and bar employees from accessing federal buildings. WilmerHale employs roughly 230 workers at its location in Miami Twp. WilmerHale is the former employer of Robert S. Mueller III, who conducted an investigation of the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
Other federal updates:
• Tariffs: A federal court on Wednesday blocked Trump’s sweeping tariffs under an emergency-powers law. What isn’t clear is whether his administration will respond to the ruling by pausing all of its emergency power tariffs in the interim. But for now, Trump might not have the leverage of import taxes to influence the world economy as he had intended, since doing so would require congressional approval. Trump earlier this week said he would delay a threatened 50% tariff on goods from the European Union to July. The EU’s chief trade negotiator said he had “good calls” with Trump administration officials and that the EU was "fully committed" to reaching a trade deal.
• Trump at Arlington: Trump paid tribute to fallen service members during a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday, in an address that honored the “great, great warriors.” The president began the day with an all-caps social media post that called ex-President Joe Biden the “scum that spent the last four years trying to destroy our country through warped radical left minds.”
• Harvard: Trump has asked federal agencies to cancel roughly $100 million in contracts with Harvard University. The government has already canceled more than $2.6 billion in federal research grants for the Ivy League school. Harvard has pushed back on the Trump administration’s demands for changes to several of its policies. Trump also called for a 15% cap on international students at Harvard — international students make up more than a quarter of the student body
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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