Butler County sheriff says he's committed to housing illegal immigrants despite the cost

HAMILTON, Ohio — Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones has been elected six times and throughout each of his six terms, he's had a consistent and bold message on immigration and enforcing the law against illegal migrants.

In 2004, a sign stating “Illegal Aliens Here” with a giant arrow pointing toward the Butler County Jail went up. It's back up now, causing both pushback and support.

“If you fear your life is in danger you can get vetted and you can go through all those systems," he told WCPO. "You can’t just sneak across the border and run into the country and go to work and think everything is going to be OK — it’s not. People have had all they can take.”

Watch our interview with Jones below:

Jones wouldn’t give an exact number when it comes to the cost of detaining illegal migrants for the federal government but said he expects it to be in the millions of dollars.

He's working now to regain 287(g) status through U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This program authorizes ICE to delegate to state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform specified immigration officer functions under the agency’s direction and oversight.

"The feds pay for the cost, whatever that is," Jones said. "They get charged so much per day; about what it is when we charge other outside agencies in the state of Ohio that house prisoners here."

The costs don't include busing and other expenses when detaining illegal migrants. But the sheriff believes the cost right now to house a prisoner here is about $80 $100 per day.

"I can tell you what it costs," Jones said. "It costs death. I had a guy that killed another man; an illegal alien, a family man — killed him. The illegal alien was drunk. He was sentenced to 10 or 15 years in jail. You might want to ask his family, the family of the deceased what did it cost.”

Right now, there’s no timeline on when the Butler County Jail will officially be deputized again by DHS. But Jones said he's met with President Trump’s Border Czar, Tom Homan, and expects that to come soon.