Kent County Sheriff refuses to provide information or practice transparency over ICE holds at the County Jail

Just before noon on Monday, several members of GR Rapid Response to ICE gathered in front of the Kent County Sheriff’s office at 701 Ball NE in Grand Rapids. The group was there to do two things, read a statement and to demand answers from Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young.

The statement that was delivered was jointly crafted by Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapids Response to ICE, which stated:

“GR Rapid Response to ICE got a call on Sunday afternoon about a Guatemalan man who had been picked up by the GRPD on Saturday and taken to the Kent County Jail. The caller was requesting support with paying the bond. A member of the Michigan Solidarity Bail Fund went to the jail to pay it, and when they asked about a timeline for release, they were told that the man would be held for 48 hours to give ICE a chance to decide whether they wanted to take him into custody. The hold keeping this person in jail after the posting of the bond was listed on the online roster as an ICE detainer, DHS form I-247, despite the Sheriff’s claim in 2019 that Kent County would no longer hold people for ICE without judicial warrant. Read that statement here: Kent County Sheriff Statement, 2019 (ACLU of Michigan).

Longtime Immigration Lawyer Richard Kessler sent us a message stating:

Back in 2019 current Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young after the racist arrest and imprisonment of U.S citizen marine Jilmar  Ramos  announced a new policy of the Kent County Sheriff’s which  would be to only  detain and hold persons  for the Immigration Customs Enforcement unless they received  a specific judicial warrant  from a Court. We have learned , however, that in recent times including today, the Kent County Sheriff’s office has changed their past policy and is now holding people pursuant to  simple requests and not requiring Judicial warrants.

For several years, Movimiento Cosecha GR and GR Rapid Response to ICE have received numerous reports from undocumented immigrants whose loved ones were transferred to ICE custody after being released from the Kent County Jail. These reports indicate ongoing cooperation between the Sheriff’s Office and federal immigration enforcement, despite public claims to the contrary.

Families are being separated, Our communities live in fear, ICE presence in Grand Rapids is growing. These are not abstract possibilities. They are lived realities.

Movimiento Cosecha GR and GR Rapid Response to ICE has been leading a campaign to demand that the Kent County passes sanctuary policies ensuring that local law enforcement does not cooperate with ICE or aid in the detention of our beloved community members.

We are here today to demand answers from the Kent County Sheriff’s Office:

• Are undocumented immigrants being held for ICE in violation of the Sheriff’s own stated policy?
• Why are community members still being funneled from local custody into federal immigration detention?

This situation demonstrates clear cooperation with ICE and undermines community trust. It also calls into question whether the Sheriff’s Office is upholding its own commitment to only detain individuals for ICE when presented with a judicial warrant.

We demand transparency.
We demand answers.
We demand justice for undocumented immigrants.”

After reading this statement, the 11 people who had gathered when into the building where the Kent County Sheriff’s office is located. One person asked to speak with Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young, saying it was an urgent matter.

After about 10 minutes someone other than the Sheriff came out, someone who identified himself as a Captain in the Sheriff’s department. He was asked if he could provide the group with information and clarification regarding the 2019 Kent County Sheriff’s decision to require judicial warrants in order for the Kent County Sheriff’s office to hold people in the jail for ICE.

The Captain would not answer the question and instead suggested that we submit a FOIA request to obtain that information. Someone responded by say, “You want us to submit a FOIA, which means you want us to pay money to submit a FOIA request, which will likely take months to get information about whether or not your office requires a judicial warrant to hold people for ICE?”

Several people asked follow up questions, but the representative from the Kent County Sheriff’s Office failed to provide any concrete information, with no commitment to transparency or accountability. You can watch the interaction between members of GR Rapid Response to ICE and someone from the Sheriff’s office.

Of course none of this was surprising, since this is how cops deal with the public, by making them jump through hoops to get information and disregard public concerns over the treatment of immigrants.

Lastly, it is important to note that the Guatemalan man who was arrested by the GRPD on Sunday was taken from the Kent County Jail by ICE just before GR Rapid Response to ICE members showed up to question the Kent County Sheriff.