HAMILTON, OH ‒ A group that’s grown almost 70-strong shows up weekly to commissioner meetings in a conservative Ohio county to protest officials’ agreement with ICE.
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 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, Ohio. They want commissioners to cancel Sheriff Richard Jones’ agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has allowed the Butler County Jail to detain people facing deportation since March.
Commissioners authorized the agreement, which brings millions of federal dollars to the county, in February.
More than 70 people sat, stood and spilled through the doors at the commissioners’ latest meeting. 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 public comment portion of the meeting, critics of the contract broke into song ‒ after one commissioner told them not to ‒ and sang “America the Beautiful.”
Anne Jantzen, 82, who lives in Seven Mile, first began attending commissioners meetings to protest the county’s agreement with ICE over the summer. 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 after the meeting.
Their group, Butler County for Immigrant Justice, ranges in age from 60 to 85, she said. One reason senior citizens make up a large portion of the group is that they’re 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’
Protests against the agreement sprang up around Butler County, which President Donald Trump won in 2024 with 62% of the vote, soon after it was approved by commissioners. The federal government’s increased pay rate to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office went into effect 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 to current 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 with the cats and JD Vance,” she said, referring to pet-eating rumors in Springfield, Ohio, around an hour north of Butler County.
Vice President Vance, who amplified those debunked claims in 2024, was raised in Butler County’s Middletown.
Another 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 that’s not true. 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 ICE document says 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. Commissioner Don Dixon thanked protesters for coming.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: In Ohio’s Trump country, suburban grandmas push back against ICE
Reporting by Victoria Moorwood, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
