“When I hear that our sheriff is just going after what I deem normal people, that have come here illegally but still come here and are working, that is different than what I am told was the plan that started after Jan. 20, and that was to get rid of the criminals,” said Butler County Commissioner T.C. Rogers. “We’ll discuss that with the sheriff, but that’s to the contrary of what I’ve been told.”
Soon after President Donald Trump was sworn in for a second non-consecutive term, Butler County reinstated its enforcement and detention contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones had canceled the contracts soon after Joe Biden was elected president in 2020. Jones said he isn’t actively seeking people who are in the country illegally, but said deputies come across them and detain them, such as with a traffic stop.
This news outlet analyzed the Butler County jail roster one day in July and found only 8% of the 384 inmates held there for ICE had any charges listed other than immigration law violations. The jail holds people picked up by ICE across southwest Ohio.
Our reporter Michael Pitman recently toured the jail, and talked to local leaders and critics about the facility on Hanover Street in Hamilton becoming a controversial regional centerpiece in the ongoing debate over immigration enforcement.
What’s happening in southwest Ohio
• SNAP changes: Thousands of Ohio’s 1.5 million food assistance recipients could lose eligibility for food assistance, with others seeing a possible reduction in their benefits, over the next few years under the new federal budget. And leaders of area organizations that help hungry people are bracing for an expected uptick in need and fear that the influx will come at a time when food banks and pantries themselves are struggling to keep shelves stocked.
• WPAFB: Three Ohio Republican congressmen urged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth not to strip Wright-Patterson Air Force Base of its four-star command status, as the Trump administration moves to make sweeping cuts to military top brass. U.S. Sens. Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno, along with U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, sent a letter to Hegseth requesting him to maintain a four-star general as the commander of Air Force Materiel Command, headquartered at Wright-Patt.
• Medicaid and veterans: Disabled American Veterans warned that new work requirements and eligibility rules for Medicaid benefits could create obstacles for former service members — particularly individuals who are homeless or without a consistent income. About 1.6 million veterans in 2023 were enrolled in Medicaid. Half of these veterans were younger than 65 and subject to the work requirements under the bill.
Other federal updates:
• Public broadcasting, foreign aid: The Senate has passed about $9 billion in federal spending cuts requested by President Donald Trump, including deep reductions to public broadcasting and foreign aid, moving forward on one of the president’s top priorities despite concerns from several Republican senators. The legislation would claw back nearly $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is the full amount it was due to receive during the next two budget years. The $8 billion clawback in foreign aid spending will cut programs that provide emergency shelter, water and sanitation, family reunification, food and some health care services.
• School’s out: More than 20 states, all Democrat-run, sued the Trump administration over billions of dollars in frozen education funding for after-school care, summer programs and more. Some of the frozen money funds after-school and summer programming at Boys & Girls Clubs, the YMCA or public schools, attended by 1.4 million children and teenagers across the nation. Trump said he wants this after-school programming to align with his presidential priorities.
• DOE done: In other school news, the U.S. Supreme Court paused a lower court order that had halted nearly 1,400 layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education, clearing the way for Trump to continue dismantling the federal department.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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