“He’s a bounty hunter. You are empowering a bounty hunter, and he’s bragging about it, and it is upsetting,” she said.
After a few dozen people spoke Tuesday morning at the weekly Butler County Commission meeting, Commissioner Cindy Carpenter said the board does not have the authority to cancel any contract held by the county sheriff.
Residents who want to influence policies should either directly engage with the sheriff or participate in elections, Carpenter said. Jones, she said, is “an independently elected official who alone sets law enforcement policies, determines operational priorities and makes decisions regarding cooperation with federal agencies,” and that includes the 287(g) contract with ICE that allows to hold prisoners for ICE.
“The Butler County Board of Commissioners does not direct, control or influence the policies of the sheriff or any other county officeholder whose budgets we approve,” Carpenter said. “Our role is strictly administrative and fiscal.”
The people who spoke on Tuesday said ICE agents are targeting people in minority communities, believing they are undocumented immigrants, causing fear in the immigrant community. They also believe the sheriff is furthering that fear.
Sheriff Richard Jones doesn’t deny it’s lucrative for the county, and doesn’t apologize for that. Around 381 of the 1,090 prisoners in jail on Tuesday were being held for ICE, according to sheriff’s office records.
Deportation efforts have ramped up since President Donald Trump reassumed office in January, and members of the immigrant community have become more fearful of potentially being deported.
For decades, Jones has held a federal contract with the U.S. Marshal’s Office, and a contract with ICE for about as long, except he canceled that contract during the Biden Administration
Stearns questioned whether the commissioners would act if the immigration-related arrests and detention of immigrants through the ICE contract impacted the local economy.
“We have a reputation here, and it’s not good, and it’s under your watch. Some of this stuff should stop,” she said.
Benjamin McCall of Liberty Twp. said since January, after President Trump took office, he has carried his passport every day in case he needs to prove he’s a United States citizen because he has a darker complexion due to his heritage.
“What we usually do is not understand the fear because we’re not in proximity of it,” he said. “The closer we are to the things we care about, the more we know. The further we are from the things we care about, we don’t understand or even worry about.”
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Carrie Pate of Hamilton said the Butler County Jail, which she referenced as an ICE detention facility, “is causing irreparable economic harm to our local businesses.”
“Personally, I believe it is immoral to profit financially from the incarceration of human beings,” she said, adding that ICE raids and arrests “are destroying our local economy.”
“If you don’t think these ICE-capades are hurting Hamilton’s economy, then you’ve not been paying attention.”
Others who spoke were highly critical of the sheriff and said the ICE contract is “pushing white supremacy out in the open” and “emboldening racists.”
“I need to be able to look my grandchildren in the eyes and tell them I did not remain silent,” said Cassie Stevens, of Hamilton, calling the ICE contract a “corrupt, dirty-money contract.” the ICE contract. “Families are being violently torn apart; children are being traumatized. Good people are afraid to leave their homes.”
Jones said he won’t apologize for “protecting Butler County,” and isn’t bothered by the comments people make against him. But he said what many cited as facts on Tuesday were either not true or incomplete truths, and many referenced issues that didn’t occur in Butler County.
Jones said he believes he is doing the right thing with the contract with ICE, which is not the only federal or local contract he holds. He also has a contract to hold U.S. Marshal prisoners as well as prisoners from other counties, including Hamilton, Montgomery and Pike counties.
“It’s not free (to house prisoners),” the sheriff said. “It’s the same money, it’s the (federal) government pays or the counties pay.”
He’s also not denying that collectively, he’s making millions of dollars on the contracts for the county. Over the course of 2025 and 2026, Jones said he’s projected to bring in $250 million.
Commissioner T.C. Rogers said he won’t push to cancel the sheriff’s contract with ICE “until I’m completely confident that our Butler County residents are safe from the huge advances of people that came here illegally.”
Commissioner Don Dixon thanked the people for coming week after week to express their opinions and thoughts, but added, “There are some things we’d like to do that we can’t do.”
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