Butler County's Republican leaders signal a rethink on hardline deportation enforcement
Photo: Butler County Sheriff's Office (file photo)The all-Republican board of commissioners in Butler County, Ohio, suggested this week that change could be coming to the county's immigration enforcement efforts — a striking turn in a county of about 400,000 that has backed President Donald Trump in the last three elections, with 62.66% of its voters supporting him in 2024.
"The country has said we're going in the wrong direction with this and we're going to make changes," Commissioner Don Dixon said at the board's meeting Tuesday in Hamilton, exactly a week after the midterm election swept Democrats into power in Washington, D.C., and in Ohio.
Commissioner Cindy Carpenter said the national election results "gave us something to think about."
"I don't think that the commissioners would stop ICE from coming into our county, and we don't have that power," Carpenter said. "But I do think it's time for us to go to the table and listen to what you're asking for and see if we can come up with some solutions that make improvements here."
Dixon said residents who have attended meetings to call for the county to end its contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since Trump was re-elected have shared "good reasoning" for ending it. He also said the arrest of Alberto Lira Razo, a 39-year-old Hamilton man detained and held in the Butler County Jail, "will be discussed with the appropriate people, and see what it's all about and how maybe we can make that better."
"We all started out with the concept of 'worst of the worst,' and truly that didn't happen," Dixon said. "And the president's admitted that didn't happen."
Commissioner T.C. Rogers agreed that opponents of the ICE contract have made compelling arguments, but said they need to think about what happens after the contract is canceled. "What's going to be the next problem?" he asked. "I just think it's worth thinking about."
It is not clear what, if any, changes the county might actually make. No vote was taken, and no policy was changed at the meeting.
Butler County has a 287(g) contract that allows its officers to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Butler County Jail in Hamilton, about 35 miles north of Cincinnati, also houses ICE detainees. The commissioners' comments came amid growing online attention to the county's enforcement after Lira Razo's detention. The Sheriff's Office said Lira Razo was targeted because of past criminal history and was Tased after resisting arrest, while his wife alleged the agency shared false information.
Carpenter, who was first elected to her role in 2010, is nearing the end of her term. Republican Michael Ryan defeated her in the primary and won his race on Nov. 3. In an email, Ryan said he is "committed to supporting this agreement and the continued partnership between the Butler County Sheriff's Office and ICE." When he takes office in January, he said he will discuss his colleagues' concerns. "I believe we have a responsibility to uphold the rule of law and ensure the safety and security of Butler County residents," Ryan said.
The county's sheriff, Richard Jones, an early Trump supporter who has made national headlines for his hardline immigration stance, struck a different note from the commissioners in some interviews — and then pulled back. In an interview with the Journal-News, Jones said he agreed with the president's assessment, after Trump said in a "60 Minutes" interview that aired Nov. 8 that his mass deportation push may have been "too tough" and cost Republicans the midterm elections. Jones told the Journal-News that there are "20 million people here that are here illegally" and "You can't deport 20 million people," adding that Democrats and Republicans have both failed to fix the legal immigration system. The Sheriff's Office reposted the Journal-News story on Facebook with a quote from Jones: "There should be Happy Middle."
But Jones told The Cincinnati Enquirer on Nov. 11 that his comments should not be interpreted as him backtracking or changing his views on ICE and his department's partnership. He said that at the beginning of Trump's second term, ICE "didn't have a good process," but that now, under Trump's "Border Czar" Tom Homan, "everything's working out fine."
"Matter of fact, we're deporting more," he said.
Jones told The Enquirer he talks often with the Butler County commissioners, and he "didn't see that they were going to change anything." "They're satisfied with the way that it's all going," Jones said.
On Lira Razo's arrest, Jones said there is nothing he would change about his department's involvement. "We assisted ICE. They've done exactly what they were supposed to do," Jones said. "He's in jail and I assume he'll be deported."
Jones met with Homan in June 2025 and has made trips to the southern border. He has also posted a photo of a pond full of inflatable alligators in front of the county jail to allude to "Alligator Alcatraz," a detention center in the Florida Everglades.
Sources: The Cincinnati Enquirer, "In Ohio's Trump country, Republicans signal softening on deportations" (Nov. 12, 2026, full text verified); Journal-News interview with Sheriff Richard Jones, as quoted in The Cincinnati Enquirer (Nov. 12, 2026); WLW's Bill Cunningham Show interview with Sheriff Jones discussing the commissioners' meeting (Nov. 11, 2026, transcript). Note: the commissioners took no vote and changed no policy at the Nov. 10 meeting; the account above reflects their public comments and the sheriff's on-the-record responses. Event date verified: the commissioners' meeting was Tuesday, November 10, 2026; Sheriff Jones spoke to The Enquirer on November 11, 2026.
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