Butler County is the first law enforcement agency in Ohio to have the federal jurisdiction of ICE

Via The Miami Student:

Eight officers of the Butler County Sheriff's office returned to Ohio this month after training with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Gainesville, Ga.

The training lasted from Jan. 8 to Feb. 5, according to Butler County Sgt. Monte Mayer. He said the training established Butler County as the first law enforcement agency in Ohio to have the federal jurisdiction of ICE.

"It took practically all of 2007 to get approval for this training by the sheriff," Mayer said, regarding the federal and local grants applied for by Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones.

Mayer said that Butler County Jail experiences a significant number of illegal immigrants who are incarcerated for committing crimes. According to Mayer, Jones has made an initiative to combat Butler County's issue with illegal immigrants within and outside the walls of the jail.

Before the eight officers were trained, Butler County could only hold suspected illegal immigrants for 48 hours while ICE performed a background check. Because the Butler County officers have been trained with ICE, the 48-hour time constraint is no longer an issue...