HAMILTON, OH ‒ A group that's grown almost 70-strong shows up weekly to commissioner meetings in this conservative Ohio county toprotest officials' agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
They're mostly grandmas.
"I'm here because I'm outraged. I'm here because I'm angry," Cassie Stevens, who lives in Hamilton, said at a Butler County Commissioners meeting on Nov. 18. "I'm here because I need to be able to look my grandkids in the eye and say I did not remain silent."
For 17 weeks, this group of Butler County residents has spoken at the commissioners' meetings in Hamilton. They want commissioners to cancel Sheriff Richard Jones' March agreement with ICE, which allows theButler County Jail to detain people facing deportation.
Commissioners authorized the agreement, which bringsmillions of federal dollars to the county.
At the latest commissioners' meeting, more than 70 people sat, stood and spilled through the doors. Most were White women who sported silver and white cropped hair. After the meeting, they took their protest outside, braving the November rain with fleece jackets and handmade signs.
Commission meetings prompt residents to band together
Sharon Meyer, who lives in Hamilton, criticized the county's agreement with ICE and said it sends one message: "If you don't look like us, bring a passport to Butler County."
Some people cried as speakers shared their neighbors', friends' and grandchildren's classmates' fears about ICE arrests and detentions. Toward the end of the meeting's public comment portion, and after one commissioner told them not to, critics of the contract broke into song: "America the Beautiful."
Anne Jantzen, 82, who lives in Seven Mile, first began attending commissioners meetings over the summer to protest the county's agreement with ICE. There, she met others with the same beliefs and started an email chain.
"They said, 'I heard about you and I want to be part of this,'" she told The Enquirer, part of the USA TODAY Network, after the meeting.
Their group, Butler County for Immigrant Justice, ranges in age from 60 to 85, she said. Retirees are more likely than younger people to be able to attend commissioners meetings, which are held at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesdays.
"I can do it; therefore I need to," Jantzen said.
The meetings are also streamed online, but speakers must be present to make a public comment.
A 'dirty money contract'
President Donald Trump won Butler County in 2024 with 62% of the vote. The federal government'sextra funding for the Butler County Sheriff's Officebegan to arrive this month.
Stevens, a member of Butler County for Immigrant Justice, called the agreement a "dirty money contract" and said it has "emboldened racists."
"They use the dehumanizing term 'illegals' just like they use the n-word," she said.
Melanie Stearns, who lives in Hamilton, said the county's cooperation with ICE has given the region a bad reputation. The sheriff's office is the only one in Ohio with a Jail Enforcement Model agreement, according tocurrent ICE contracts, which allows the Butler County Jail to hold ICE detainees for extended periods of time.
"We look like idiots, just like we did withthe cats and JD Vance," she said, referring to the vice president's comments last year that immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, about an hour north of Butler County, were eating pets. Vance was raised in Butler County's Middletown.
Resident, Jay Stevison, who joined the group after the meeting, got teary-eyed as he spoke about his three grandchildren, who, he said, have a Latino parent.
"I would have to defend them with my life if ICE tried to take them," he said.
Commissioners give reasons for not canceling ICE contract
Twenty residents spoke out against the contract for about an hour. None spoke in favor of it.
The three commissioners, all Republicans, responded.
Commissioner Cindy Carpenter, who has served on the board since 2011, said the sheriff "alone" sets policies, determines operations and makes decisions about cooperating with federal agencies, including ICE.
But the sheriff is not an independent contractor, said Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser. Jones' office needs commissioner authorization to sign most contracts and agreements, as was done for the ICE agreement.
In a phone call with The Enquirer the day after the meeting, Carpenter said commissioners aim to facilitate county operations without inserting their own political opinions.
"We would lose a lot of credibility with our officeholders if we started undermining their judgment," she said.
The resolution passed by commissioners in February amended the sheriff's agreement with the U.S. Marshals Service to allow the jail to hold ICE detainees. Commissioners could take action to cancel the agreement. The ICEdocumentsays either party can terminate or suspend the agreement.
Commissioner T.C. Rogers,citing CNN coverage, said there is a need for ICE arrests because of a 2023 surge of migration at the U.S.-Mexico border. That surge wasdeclining under President Joe Biden and has slowed even furtherunder Trump.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer:Suburban grandmas protest ICE contract in Trump-voting Ohio county
