The Grand Rapids Power Structure and ICE in Kent County: Part I

Next Friday four of us who engaged in civil disobedience at the Kent County Sheriff’s Office last January will have a jury trial for that action.

We engaged in that action to draw attention to the Sheriff’s Office complicity with ICE by doing ICE holds, often referred to as ICE detainers. Those who participated in civil disobedience also were drawing attention to Movimiento Cosecha’s six sanctuary policy demands that the immigrant-led group began in February of 2025.

According to a report from the Prison Policy Initiative county jails play a critical role in the Trump Administration’s mass deportation plan:

Local jails and police departments are key to the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda because they facilitate ICE arrests of people who are already in police custody. In the first year of Trump’s second term, the administration has intensified the criminalization of asylum seekers and immigrants, pushed immigrant detention to all-time highs, and indiscriminately raided city after city.

In counties and states that have no ICE detainer policies, the number of ICE arrests at jails is lower, as is reflected in this infographic from the Prison Policy Initiative.

The Grand Rapids Power Structure and ICE in Kent County

The decisions regarding cooperation with ICE in Kent County comes from the Sheriff’s Office and other Kent County officials. In Part I of this series I want to look at the relationship between the Grand Rapids Power Structure and elected positions in Kent County that are only every four years.

Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young had raised a total of $131,531.39 in the 2024 election. She ran unopposed. Her top contributors were a who’s who of the Grand Rapids Power Structure:

• TGIF Victory Fund – $10,000
• Cheri DeVos – $8,325
• Steve Ehmann – $8,325
• Doug DeVos – $8,325
• Maria DeVos – $8,325
• Dick DeVos – $8,325
• Betsy DeVos – $8,325
• Daniel DeVos – $8,325
• Pamela DeVos – $8,325
• Joan Secchia – $4,000
• David Van Andel – $2,500
• Carol Van Andel – $2,500
• Charlie Secchia – $2,000
• John Kennedy – $2,000
• Jim Williams – $2,000
• Mike Ellis – $1,000
• Mark Murray – $1,000
• Tom Bylenga – $1,000
• Mark Bissell – $1,000

In the 2020 election Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young was also backed by a lot of the same members of the GR Power Structure, such as:

• Dan Hibma – $2000
• Maria DeVos – $2000
• Cheri DeVos – $2000
• Steve Ehmann – $2000
• Pamela DeVos – $2000
• Dan DeVos – $2000
• Richard DeVos – $2000

Although the amounts were less from this group in 2020, they were still the largest contributors to the Kent County Sheriff. The reasons why they contributed is hard to determine as these wealthy individuals don’t practice transparency, but I believe that they have backed Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young the past two election cycles because she has demonstrated a commitment to protecting order and the status quo, which is primarily beneficial to the wealthiest members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure.

More importantly Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young has also cooperated with ICE since she became Sheriff in late 2018 after Larry Stelma took an early retirement. The Grand Rapids Power Structure is aware of this dynamic and supports it, since it creates a climate of fear in Kent County, and fear motivates people to not rock the boat or question the most powerful families in Kent County. Thus the Grand Rapids Power Structure has been rewarding Michelle LaJoye-Young for her commitment to protecting their interests.