Following calls from some residents to reconsider cooperation with ICE in Kenton County, residents who oppose that move came to the Kenton County Fiscal Court meeting this week to speak.
The meeting was attended by fewer people than previous meetings, but it provided an opportunity for county residents who support ICE to speak their minds.
“You all should follow ICE,” resident Randy Evans told the fiscal court. “You should follow the Constitution. You should follow the law.”
Evans was one of two residents to speak out in favor of local cooperation with ICE. The county commissioners and functionaries on the fiscal court did not directly respond to any public comments during the meeting.
Kenton County Detention Center, like the other two county jails in Northern Kentucky, detains immigration inmates. Additionally, the Kenton County Detention Center has an agreement with ICE that enables corrections officers to issue arrest warrants and removal papers so that inmates who have committed immigration violations can be transferred to federal custody upon their scheduled release from local criminal custody. A separate agreement enables corrections officers to question inmates about their immigration status.
Aaron Anderson, a veteran and county resident, reiterated many of the points Evans made and told the fiscal court and county officials that “the vocal minority that’s been showing up does not speak for most of the community.”
“People keep talking about how they want our police to protect and serve us,” Anderson also said. “They do exactly that by enforcing the law, which we all know is the actual job of the police force. Sob stories aside, the law is the law.”
Anderson said that even though he’d been living in Kenton County for much of his life, this was the first time he’d felt compelled to speak at a public meeting.
Michael Staverman, who has been speaking before the fiscal court about ICE since December, was the sole resident at this week’s meeting to speak out against ICE. Staverman was actually complimentary of Jailer Marc Fields, who had agreed to take his group on a tour of the jail later this week and whom he thanked for “opening up a dialog.”
Still, he was concerned that the commissioners had not come forward one way or another about its position on the county’s 287(g) agreements, the two ICE agreements mentioned above.
“This court’s position on 287(g) remains unclear in my eyes, and I would appreciate attention to this item in the future,” Staverman said. “While that dialog continues, I do want to stress that oversight is a basic function of this court, and as of yet, no oversight has been attempted. There’s nothing on the agenda today. I hope that that will change in the future. Our group will do what we can to assess the conditions within the detention center.”