The false narrative of elected officials: Kent County Sheriff LaJoye-Young deceives GR City Commissioners

What is it about local elected officials and their constant false narratives or outright lies regarding ICE?

Just last month Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand at the end of a city commission meeting stated: “Every City that I have looked at for policies has allowed the GRPD to keep ICE agents safe. They are also humans.”

Just last week, Kent County Sheriff LaJoye-Young did a briefing for the Grand Rapids City Commission on why they should support the November 3 millage to use even more public tax dollars for the Kent County Jail, which you can watch here.  The Sheriff’s presentation begins at 44:30 in the video.

Fairly early on in the Sheriff’s pitch to the City to support the upcoming millage she states:

WE WE HAVE NO NEED TO ADD ADDITIONAL BEDS TO THE JAIL AT THIS POINT AND DON’T INTEND TO DO THAT. YOU KNOW, IN TODAY’S DAY AND AGE, IT’S ALWAYS THAT CONCERN THAT WE HAVE DEVELOPED A PARTNERSHIP WITH ICE, AND WE WANT TO BUILD A FACILITY TO IMPROVE OUR ABILITY TO HOLD FOR ICE. THAT IS NOT THE CASE. IT’S NOT ON THE RADAR AT ALL. THIS WOULD NOT INCREASE OUR JAIL BED SPACE, AND IT WOULD NOT LEAD TO ANY CONTRACTS WITH ANY FEDERAL ENTITIES OR STATE ENTITIES, FOR THAT MATTER.

I have several responses to this comment from the Sheriff. First, no one in either Movimiento Cosecha or GR Rapid Response to ICE has said that they believe the county will building a detention center for ICE.

Second, the Kent County Sheriff’s Office has a relationship with ICE and at least since March of 2025, the Kent County Jail has been engaged in detainers for ICE. You can don’t have to take my word for it, since we have a document obtained via a FOIA request, which you can read here.

Part of the memo from the Kent County Sheriff’s Office states under the heading of Policy:

The Kent County Sheriff’s Office is committed to upholding all applicable Local, State, and Federal laws regarding immigration enforcement. KCSO works closely with Immigration Enforcement and Removal officials to ensure compliance with these guidelines while maintaining the safety, security, and rights of all individuals in our custody. All interactions with immigration authorities will be conducted in accordance with legal requirements, department policies, and established procedures to ensure transparency, accountability, and due process.

Since the Kent County Sheriff’s Office has a relationship with ICE and is holding immigrants for ICE, we can then conclude that they are using beds for those whom ICE has requested a detainer for. Thus, when Sheriff LaJoye-Young says that they will not be using beds for immigrants with ICE detainers she is creating a false narrative, indeed an outright lie.

We can expect that during the upcoming Grand Rapids City Commission meeting on September 22nd at 7pm, that Mayor David LaGrand will continue to deny any collaboration between the GRPD and ICE. Along with roughly 100 people, I witnessed a coordinated effort between ICE and the GRPD to make sure that activists would not interrupt the transport of abducted immigrants in a GEO Group van last Saturday. We can expect more lies and deceptions from local elected officials in the very near future.