Contracts between Ohio police departments and sheriff's offices with Immigration and Customs Enforcement have increased since President Donald Trump's second term in office began.
An American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio records request found 19 counties have agreements ranging from jail and transport services to what are called "287(g) agreements" that essentially deputize local police to enforce immigration law. In central Ohio, Delaware County has an agreement to jail and transport immigrants detained by ICE.
Jocelyn Rosnick with the ACLU said that before 2025, there were only two Ohio counties with these kind of agreements.
"I think there is a real fear that the expansion will continue. I think that we have seen from the administration that there is an environment of pressure to enter into these contracts and agreements," Rosnick said.
Some counties don't have these formal agreements, but still work with ICE on some level. The Columbus Dispatch reported the Franklin County Sheriff, through its jail, cooperates with ICE by alerting the agency if an undocumented immigrant is detained even if a criminal case is dismissed or bond is posted.
Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin said he is reviewing this longstanding policy.
Rosnick said there's also a financial incentive the Trump administration is using to get more counties to comply. She said millions in federal tax dollars flow to these counties.
"If every single jail bed, every single day of the year that was available to ICE, was filled, the financial gain, the money coming in to those locales would be over $54 million in total. That's a lot of money," Rosnick said.
ICE agents arrested more than 200 people in its "Operation Buckeye" enforcement action last year. Since then, there hasn't been another large scale ICE operation reported in Ohio.
ICE agents were deployed to several airports around the U.S., including Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, to help TSA agents who are currently going unpaid due to a partial government shutdown.
Another Ohio county the ACLU said has an official agreement is Butler County, which is known to be cooperating with ICE. The ACLU also said it had to sue Geauga and Seneca counties for denying its public records requests.
