The Lucas County commissioners and Lucas County Sheriff Mike Navarre allowed their personal opinions, or maybe political considerations, to overrule their professional judgment in opposing a contract between the regional jail and ICE.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is an agency of federal law enforcement and it has a job to do, and furthermore, the current president was elected with a clear understanding that ICE’s job would be done.
The board of Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio near Stryker, Ohio, has approved the leasing of beds to ICE.
Lucas is one of five counties that share the facility. The commissioner and sheriff from Lucas County cast the only no votes.
It appears that the ICE roundups of illegal migrants that have occurred in other parts of the country are getting ready to begin here.
Sheriff Navarre’s concern is that the ICE deportations will break up families and make orphans of those deportees’ children.
The sheriff made it clear that his office will cooperate with ICE as required for safety and to execute legitimate warrants. He said he opposes participating voluntarily with the use of CCNO because of ICE’s immoral separation of families.
We agree with the sheriff that ICE’s priority should be removing illegal migrants who have committed serious crimes.
We also believe that recent illegal immigrants should be deported to prevent them putting down roots and creating families without the benefit of legal residency in the country.
We do not agree that ICE has a mandate to arrest and deport all illegal immigrants.
We agree with many who believe there should a policy to absorb and make citizens of those undocumented immigrants who have lived in and worked in and — yes — contributed to our nation during their long stay in the United States.
The contract does not guarantee the agency bed space, and the facility reserves the right to refuse inmates who have foreign gang affiliations or are charged with murder and other violent crimes.
ICE has a legal and legitimate need for detention space, and local law enforcement should participate with lawful federal law enforcement.
The housing of deportees at CCNO has the benefit of being relatively local and under the oversight of local officials — including Lucas County commissioners.
First Published March 2, 2025, 5:00 a.m.
