Campbell County residents filled the Campbell County Fiscal Court meeting on Jan. 21 to speak out about the county’s contract to house ICE detainees.
There were eight speakers at Wednesday’s fiscal court meeting, with more folks filling the seats in the fiscal court room who asked questions and voiced concerns regarding the Campbell County Detention Center’s housing of ICE detainees.
All three detention centers in Northern Kentucky have contracts with the U.S. Marshals to house ICE detainees; on paper, ICE agreements are subcontracts with the U.S. Marshals.
“The question is, what should our county do?” said Martha Coffman. “Obviously, stay as far away as possible and break off any connections or contracts with such a vigilante force. No, they are not yet patrolling the streets of our communities dressed in full tactical clothing, carrying war weapons, and terrorizing our citizens and shattering childhoods. Can you be certain that that day will not come to Campbell County?”
The meeting comes after protesters gathered in Newport on Jan. 11 to oppose the Campbell County Detention Center’s holding of ICE detainees.
Similar to the group of people who showed up on Wednesday in Campbell County, several NKY residents came out to the Kenton County Fiscal Court meeting on Jan. 13 to call for an end to the Kenton County Detention Center’s agreement to house ICE detainees.
Newport resident Brant Owens, who is running for Campbell County Commissioner (Dist. 3), spoke at the meeting regarding the county’s cooperation with ICE. Owens asked the county to explain why it was in contract to house ICE detainees.
“Is it greed?” Owens said. “The federal government pays well for every detainee that we hold, much more than the state, but if we’re funding our jail based upon that agreement, that is morally repugnant to me and a lot of people here in this room and in this county.”
Newport resident Jennifer Brewer said Campbell County has a really good reputation among its residents for having great responders and a respectful administration.
“I just want to be cautious that when we start associating those administrations with ICE, I feel like it’s all going to fall apart, and there’s no recovery from that,” Brewer said.
After the residents voiced their concerns at the meeting, Campbell County Judge/Executive Steve Pendery facilitated questions from the crowd for roughly 30 minutes.
“The people that are lodged in the jail under a federal contract are lodged the same way they’ve been since the beginning of time in Campbell County,” Pendery said. “I’ve been here for almost 30 years. We’ve had a contract with the marshal’s office that entire time; there was an amendment to allow for ICE prisoners, and that was signed not that long ago. Nobody expected that there were going to be the problems that you were here tonight to testify to, and our jobs in this is to provide a safe, warm, and dry place to treat the inmates without respect to race, color, creed, or political persuasion, and see to it that they are properly cared for.”
The crowd repeatedly asked Pendery if the fiscal court could amend the contract to not cooperate with ICE or not agree to hold ICE detainees.
“The question for us would be whether that is something we want to do or is it wise, and neither I nor anybody here is prepared to answer that question tonight,” Pendery said.
Pendery said he was unaware the crowd would be at the meeting, and if he had known in advance, he said the fiscal court could have asked Campbell County Jailer Jim Daley to attend to answer questions that he couldn’t. He told the audience that any group members could visit county officials during regular business hours to ask questions.
“I’m offering, if somebody wants to come in and talk, that is absolutely fine, but I’m also suggesting that there’s another side of the story, and there are other opinions brought in the community that would have to be taken into account as well,” he said.