HAMILTON, Ohio — Protesters outside the Butler County Jail on Wednesday called for the release of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) prisoners — one of whom, they said, was separated from his family.
Armando Reyes Rodriguez got a call from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Monday.
According to advocates, Rodriguez was told that he needed to come to ICE's office in Blue Ash to have his ankle monitoring device removed. It is unclear why Rodriguez was on an ankle monitor, but we do know ICE's "Alternatives to Detention" program uses ankle monitors to track persons in the country illegally"who are generally in removal proceedings or subject to a final order of removal," according to ICE's website.
"That's the frustrating thing," Rodriguez's pastor, Irvin Heishman, told WCPO Wednesday. "He was trying to comply with what he was requested to do."
Rodriguez, accompanied by the assistant pastor of his church, The West Charleston Church of the Brethren near Tipp City, went to the office, where he was detained by officers and transferred to the Butler County Jail, which has a contract with ICE to hold detainees.
His church protested his detention on Monday and again on Wednesday. And they say they plan to periodically continue demonstrations for Rodriguez, who is from Honduras, as his asylum claims are heard in court.
Sheriff Richard Jones has been adamant about his efforts to aid the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
In fact, the Butler County Sheriff's Office has the authority to not only detain but also interrogate, transfer and prepare processing and charging documents for ICE arrestees, per their new contract with ICE.
You can hear more from the protest of Rodriguez's detention in the video below:
"Immigration is very complex and we're standing with the folks who are our neighbors, and who are an integral part of our communities," Janet Futrell with the Miami Valley Immigration Coalition said. "And we can't do what we do without them."
WCPO reached out to the Butler County Sheriff's Office for an update on this case, but we have yet to hear back.
