Lorain County taken off feds' list of 'sanctuaries' for undocumented immigrants

ELYRIA — Days after Lorain County officials said it was wrongly placed on a list of "sanctuary jurisdictions" that refuse to comply with federal immigration enforcement actions, Lorain County is off that list. Sheriff Jack Hall, a Republican elected in November, on Tuesday told the Lorain County Board of Commissioners that no one was more surprised than he to learn that Lorain County was on a Department of Homeland Security list and was at risk of losing federal funding. Lorain County has since "been removed from that list," Hall said Tuesday. "We believe that we were not out of compliance with any federal law," Hall told the commissioners. "And a matter of fact there was an allegation we broke the law here in Lorain County." "We could not find any proof that anybody had broken the law in Lorain County as far as the Sheriff's Office or any other government entity that is a public office underneath the control of the commissioners," he said. "So we are still trying to get confirmation why that allegation was even made." Lorain County had apparently been considered a "sanctuary" jurisdiction by the federal government "for a few years," Hall said, though neither he nor any federal officials he said he spoke with could say how that happened. Hall said how and when the county got that label and from whom remains under investigation. Making the list put the county at risk of losing money used to fight human trafficking, to end drug trafficking and a $117,000 grant for a boat to patrol Lorain County's portion of Lake Erie as part of the Northern Border Initiative, Hall said. Hall said that over the weekend, officials in the Border Patrol region of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois couldn't tell him or his staff why Lorain County was on the list. While Hall and his staff contacted federal law enforcement officials, Moore said he and other county leaders were contacting U.S. Sens. Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno and U.S. Rep. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green, for their help in contacting the White House to get answers. It was Ryan Overton, an assistant director with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, offices in Detroit and Cleveland, who emailed Hall on Tuesday to tell him "that I have requested that Lorain County be removed from this list" and that he was awaiting final confirmation from Homeland Security headquarters. "I believe this stemmed from our last administration," Overton wrote, apparently referencing the Biden administration, though neither he nor any county officials provided any evidence to that effect. The assumption Lorain County authorities aren't working with federal agencies to enforce immigration law couldn't be further from the truth, Hall said, citing partnerships with ICE and the U.S. Border Patrol. Since Hall took office in January, his deputies have arrested two undocumented immigrants on criminal charges and handed 20 more over to ICE as part of efforts to combat human, drug and labor trafficking. One was wanted on a federal criminal indictment and a second was arrested on domestic violence and restraining order violation allegations. Another 20 undocumented immigrants were taken into custody as part of labor, sex/human or drug trafficking enforcement efforts at hotels off Ohio Turnpike exits in the county, Hall said. ICE contacted the Sheriff's Office to have those poeple transferred to federal custody, he said. Some of the alleged trafficking victims might be allowed to stay in the U.S., Hall later said, if they are needed to testify in court or if they are identified as victims of human trafficking as part of the T visa temporary immigration program. In each case where the Sheriff's Office contacted ICE or Border Patrol to take custody of someone detained by deputies, federal agents did so within 35 minutes, he said. The immigrant arrested on the federal criminal charges spent only 90 minutes in the Lorain County Jail before federal agents came to get him, Hall said. Hall said he's working with El Centro, Lorain's Latino services organization, and Mexican consular authorities in the United States on training his deputies and staff so they do not mistakenly identify the wrong people and take them into custody based on name alone. For its part, the all-Republican county commissioners unanimously passed a resolution "declaring Lorain County as a non-sanctuary county in the state of Ohio" where undocumented immigrants won't be sheltered from law enforcement. "Whereas Lorain County supports legal immigration into the United States, and; whereas, Lorain County is not nor has ever been a sanctuary county in the state of Ohio; now, therefore be it resolved, by the Lorain County Board of Commissioners that we hereby reaffirm Lorain County as a non-sanctuary county in the state of Ohio," the resolution read. It isn't clear if the resolution is legally binding in any way. Commissioner David Moore said there had been talks in the past about labeling the county a "sanctuary county," but nothing came of it. He said in the past he's been against getting involved in "federal" issues, such as resolutions against the Iraq War, and "I would not usually agree to something like this." "But, considering the threats that were made against this county in regards to pulling our funding, hurting our citizens, all because of misinformation, that misinformation then gets on Facebook and everywhere else and the next thing you know, it harms our community and it harms on who we are," Moore said. Commissioner Marty Gallagher said though they shouldn't have to, it was the responsibility of the commissioners to take a position. "It reinforces law and order in my opinion. It's not about division, it's about responsibility. The laws were made for a reason. And you can come into this country, legally, if you go the right path," he said. "We're not addressing a matter to be taken lightly," Commissioner Jeff Riddell said. The Associated Press reported that a number of communities and counties that were enthusiastic supporters of the Trump administration ended up on the list. Officials in some of those places told the AP they didn't know how that had happened. The list, which was riddled with misspellings, included sparsely populated counties that have little interaction with immigration authorities, that overwhelmingly voted for President Donald Trump and that have actively supported his hard-line immigration policies, the AP reported. Critics of the list said it also wasn't clear what criteria were used by the Department of Homeland Security to create the list. The Associated Press contributed to this story. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com