2008 Woodie Awards
Sheriff continues push for legislation
Erin Bowen
Issue date: 11/30/07 Section: Community
Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones is actively targeting Ohio lawmakers to oblige them to create and promote legislation that would address the nation's current situation with
illegal immigration.
Jones sent a letter to Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted and Senate President Bill Harris Nov. 6 urging the lawmakers to consider immigration reform within the state of Ohio. This action follows the bill Jones mailed in 2005 to the Federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for 15 prisoners believed to be illegal aliens currently held in Butler County Jail. The bill for $71,610 was calculated for 1,023 billable days in which the aliens were imprisoned since June 2005 at roughly $70 a day.
"Why should Butler County taxpayers have to pay for jail costs associated with people we don't believe should ever have been in this country, let alone this state, let alone this county to begin with?" Jones asked. "It's time the federal government should at least pay for the criminals they let stay here. If they don't want to pay for them, then they can deport them."
Jones, a longtime advocate of immigration issues, recently returned from a tip to the Mexican border in Arizona. While in Arizona, Jones met with immigration and customs officials to survey the situation firsthand.
"What struck me the most is how vast this task is," Jones said. "It's such a massive undertaking to try to stop this."
Jones learned during his trip that in Cochise County, Ariz., an average of 300 illegal immigrants are caught by border patrol each day while about 1,000 pass undetected into the United States.
"It's totally out of control," Jones said. "Don't believe that all these people are coming here for a better life."
In reaction to Jones's comment, Kelli Lyon Johnson, assistant professor of English at the Miami University Hamilton campus, said she was unsure if the statement merited a response.
"Who does he mean by 'these people'?" Johnson said. "People with brown skin? Who speak Spanish? What does he mean by 'better life?' One in which they can afford to eat? For their children or their mothers to eat? It is my belief that it is a myth that people come to the U.S. from all over the world to try to attain 'the American Dream.'"
illegal immigration.
Jones sent a letter to Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted and Senate President Bill Harris Nov. 6 urging the lawmakers to consider immigration reform within the state of Ohio. This action follows the bill Jones mailed in 2005 to the Federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for 15 prisoners believed to be illegal aliens currently held in Butler County Jail. The bill for $71,610 was calculated for 1,023 billable days in which the aliens were imprisoned since June 2005 at roughly $70 a day.
"Why should Butler County taxpayers have to pay for jail costs associated with people we don't believe should ever have been in this country, let alone this state, let alone this county to begin with?" Jones asked. "It's time the federal government should at least pay for the criminals they let stay here. If they don't want to pay for them, then they can deport them."
Jones, a longtime advocate of immigration issues, recently returned from a tip to the Mexican border in Arizona. While in Arizona, Jones met with immigration and customs officials to survey the situation firsthand.
"What struck me the most is how vast this task is," Jones said. "It's such a massive undertaking to try to stop this."
Jones learned during his trip that in Cochise County, Ariz., an average of 300 illegal immigrants are caught by border patrol each day while about 1,000 pass undetected into the United States.
"It's totally out of control," Jones said. "Don't believe that all these people are coming here for a better life."
In reaction to Jones's comment, Kelli Lyon Johnson, assistant professor of English at the Miami University Hamilton campus, said she was unsure if the statement merited a response.
"Who does he mean by 'these people'?" Johnson said. "People with brown skin? Who speak Spanish? What does he mean by 'better life?' One in which they can afford to eat? For their children or their mothers to eat? It is my belief that it is a myth that people come to the U.S. from all over the world to try to attain 'the American Dream.'"
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