The move would allow the federal agency to incarcerate people who are in the country illegally at the facility near Stryker.
STRYKER, Ohio — The Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio (CCNO) Board voted to approve a contract between the jail and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a move that would allow the federal agency to incarcerate people who are in the country illegally.
Wednesday's vote passed 8-2 and was conducted by a commissioner and the sheriff from each of the five counties that use CCNO: Lucas, Fulton, Williams, Henry and Defiance counties.
The proposed contract would allow ICE to use up to 96 beds at CCNO to house detainees. In a press release from CCNO Wednesday, the jail's board said discussions for this contract began in August 2023, when the jail said it was seeking options for filling available beds.
According to the release, three of CCNO's housing units are currently shut down. These are where ICE's detainees would be held.
"This is normal for us," said CCNO Executive Director Dennis Sullivan in the release. "We've partnered with other agencies or facilities since the 1990s to fill beds."
The agreement with ICE will fall under the jail's existing contract with the US Marshals. ICE will pay the jail $117 per day for each inmate, in addition to mileage and officer transport time.
In addition to its contract with the US Marshals, CCNO said it has agreements with the Bureau of Prisons and Findlay Municipal Court, as well as several other facilities and agencies in the past.
The jail said these contracts have allowed it to maintain cost-effectiveness. In the release, CCNO described the contract as a "fiscally responsible solution" for taxpayers and said that it would be a way to "supplement operational costs" that would otherwise come out of the pockets of the five counties that utilize CCNO.
CCNO said each ICE inmate will be held at its facility for an average stay of 40 to 45 days, and they will not be released into the community. The jail also said ICE's detainees will be placed on a flight back to their country of origin after they leave the facility.
"We have a process in place currently with federal inmates and it will just extend to ICE," Sullivan said in the release. "We won't take anyone we feel would be a security risk, like those with foreign gang affiliations or murderers."
The two "no" votes were cast by Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken and Lucas County Sheriff Mike Navarre.
Gerken argued being a regional jail, they shouldn't hold inmates from other parts of the country. Navarre said he didn't want to support mass family separation.
"I'm opposed to mass deportation for one simple reason. Mass deportation equates to mass family separation," Navarre said. "It makes perfect sense from a business standpoint, but this is one decision I'm going to vote no on."
Additionally, Gerken invited outside guests from the Farm Labor Organizing Committee and other Lucas County nonprofits to share their perspectives at the meeting, but the board members rejected the motion to let them speak.
"It was a pretty shameful display of anti-democracy," FLOC director Baldemar Valasquez said after the meeting.
After the vote, WTOL 11 tried to talk to some of the yes voters, but they all declined to speak, with one sheriff saying "it was a financial decision and we don't need to justify it."
Meanwhile, Gerken left the meeting early, stood outside and shared this message with his fellow board members.
"When you go to sleep tonight think about the families that are separated," Gerken said. "Think about the kid in Chicago that doesn't know where his dad is and might never see him again. Think about the mother in Cleveland that might never see her husband again. For what? $117 a day? Just think about it."
Williams County Sheriff Tom Kochert told WTOL 11 on Tuesday that he was in favor of CCNO becoming a detention facility for ICE.
CCNO executive director Dennis Sullivan told WTOL 11 that we should start to see this take effect in the next few weeks.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the information made available in a press release from CCNO.