When the Butler County Sheriff's Office received a letter July 28 expressing deep concerns over its contract with the federal government to hold ICE detainees, officials there decided to invite some of the 35 faith leaders who signed it on a tour of the Butler County Jail.
More than a dozen pastors — almost all of them from Butler County — took the sheriff's office up on its offer. The roughly hour-long tour of the facility where ICE detainees are housed happened Aug. 13.
The tour comes at a time when a number of individuals and groups in Butler County and beyond are questioning the sheriff's contract with ICE, expressing concerns about the treatment detainees receive, and pointing out many of the immigrants detained there don't stand accused of any crime beyond being undocumented.
Some held in the Butler County Jail on ICE detainers have a criminal record — the BCSO reported Friday two recent detainees are sex offenders, for example. But roughly 70% have no criminal charges beyond their immigration status.
WVXU spoke to five of the pastors who took the tour, four of whom agreed to speak on the record about their takeaways.
They lead congregations in rural and urban areas. Some said the jail seemed clean and professionally managed. Others had questions about the quality of medical care ICE detainees received and reports of physical mistreatment. The ones WVXU talked to expressed deep frustration with shifting government policies and a sense they had impacted innocent people in profound ways.
All made sure to emphasize they spoke only for themselves and not their congregations.
WVXU also reached out to the Butler County Sheriff's Office for comment on the letter, the tour, and its contract with ICE. This article will be updated with any response we receive.
'I walked in curious'
Pastor Peter Hamm of Jacksonburg United Methodist Church in rural Butler County said his faith made him feel compelled to condemn the jailing of people based simply on their immigration status.
"My commitment to following the way of Jesus is what left me no alternative but to speak up," he says. "Not speaking up for the stranger and the alien and the asylum-seeker and the refugee would not be an acceptable course of action for me as I understand the Christian faith."
But Hamm said the jail itself was not the main cause for his concern.
"If we're in a position where we've got someone we're sending to jail only because they're undocumented, I think I'd rather it happen at Butler County than a lot of other places," he said. "I suspect they might get better treatment there."
Others on the tour had more questions, though. Rev. Kelly Venturini at Middletown's Pleasant Ridge United Methodist Church said the tour didn't help her feel better about the sheriff's contract with ICE.
"I walked in more curious, wanting to understand and learn," she said. "I walked out not learning anything. Now, there's more of a concern."
Venturini said some of the statements made by officials in the jail about security and the behavior of ICE detainees seemed contradictory. Seeing the medical facilities in the jail — some of which are under construction, she said — made her wonder how adequate medical care could be provided for the number of people held there.
She also had issue with the fact people like Emerson Colindres and others who followed immigration procedures ended up in the jail. Colindres is a Honduran Cincinnati Public Schools graduate who was arrested at a routine ICE check-in and spent two weeks in the Butler County Jail before his deportation.
"Why is this happening? Even if policies change, that doesn't mean we get to dehumanize people and assume they're guilty when we don't know any information about them," Venturini says.
'We fundamentally disagree'
Another Middletown faith leader had similar takeaways. Middletown Faith United Church Associate Pastor Marie Edwards says she works often with young people in Middletown's Latino communities. Some of them have family impacted by Trump's immigration policies.
Like other faith leaders, she found the idea of jailing immigrants — many of them not white — just because they're undocumented fundamentally unfair.
"There are some cracks in the immigration system in our country that span many administrations," she says. "But I do believe there has to be equity."
Edwards said she also had some concerns about reports of mistreatment of ICE detainees in the jail, though she said she didn't witness anything on the tour to that effect.
Pastor Irvin Heischman of the West Charleston Church of the Brethren was among those on the tour. Unlike other tour-goers, his church is north of Dayton.
Heishman says a member of his congregation, Armando Reyes, was detained in the jail for two-and-a-half months prior to being deported back to his native Honduras. Reyes' advocates have pointed out he had no other criminal record.
"We loved him," Heishman says. "He's very generous. Very kind, fun person, and a person of integrity. He was here under ICE supervision when the policy was to keep families together. When that policy was rescinded, he became deportable."
Heishman, like some of the other faith leaders on the tour, says he's concerned about stories of physical mistreatment of detainees he heard from Reyes and others who have spent time in the jail.
Heishman says he trusts that many of the jail staff are professionals who simply have a job to do. He said he heard during the visit that those working there have a wide array of views on immigration.
And he says he appreciates the sheriff's transparency. But it didn't change his overall viewpoint.
"We are grateful that the staff of the jail took our letter seriously and that they took the time to meet with us," he says. "I'm sure that was uncomfortable for them as it was for us a little bit. But I think we just fundamentally disagree."
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