YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County jail is holding about 95 inmates arrested by ICE and slated for deportation.

Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene said the county will receive approximately $4.5 million per year through its contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to provide space for those arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“There’s a clear financial benefit for Mahoning County itself for housing these inmates. It helps fund the operations of the Sheriff’s Office and our initiatives, and it creates a bit of a rainy day fund for criminal justice agencies for when times may not be as good,” Greene said.

Greene said the additional external funding is a way to avoid returning to the taxpayers to fund the county’s justice system.

He said the county’s criminal justice sales tax generates about $33 million to $34 million per year, while the county’s criminal justice budget — including the Sheriff’s Office, Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office, dispatch services and Mahoning County Coroner’s Office — is about $38 million to $39 million per year.

“So, that doesn’t cover everyone’s budget, and with inflation and the increased cost of wages, this kind of money can offset that deficit.

Greene said the county already houses inmates for the U.S. Marshals Service and makes between $5 million and $6 million per year on that contract.

He said he reached out to ICE’s Cleveland office right after President Donald Trump was elected in November to offer space in the county jail, knowing that if Trump made good on his campaign promises, ICE would need beds for detainees.

“They’re going to need to be housed somewhere, and I have the room, and there’s no additional cost to the taxpayers,” Greene said.

Greene said the ICE detainees are not taking the place of any county inmates.

“I wouldn’t tolerate that,” he said. “I said we could house about 100 and could possibly reach for 150 based on our local population of inmates.” Greene said the number will likely remain between 100 and 110.

He said the jail can house 575 inmates comfortably. As of Thursday, the total population in the jail was 489. He said 95 of those were ICE detainees, seven are regular inmates being held for the Federal Bureau of Prisons and 120 are being held on federal charges for the U.S. Marshals.

Per the contract with ICE, Greene said, the county receives $125 per inmate per day. He said holding 100 inmates for 365 days each comes out to about $4.5 million.

Greene said the jail began receiving ICE inmates about a month ago. He said the number has jumped by just shy of 30 ICE detainees just this week. On Wednesday, there were 77 and on Tuesday, 68, he said.

“So, we’re almost at our capacity of what we’re comfortable holding,” he said.

Greene said all detainees have been through some type of court proceedings and are being held until ICE picks them up or tells the Sheriff’s Office where to take them next.

“They’ll come to get them or we transport them. We take them to the hospital if they have medical issues and we also have 24/7 medical care at the jail. They’re properly fed. They are well taken care of,” he said.

Green said Mahoning County also held ICE detainees in 2009, but not during the first Trump administration from 2017-2021.

TENSION AT BOARD MEETING

At Thursday’s meeting of the Board of Mahoning County Commissioners, one resident spoke out against the county having a part in ICE activities, and a local politician asked for more clarity on the jail’s numbers.

Michael Kripchak, the Youngstown Democrat who ran against U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Salem, for the Ohio 6th District congressional seat in November, asked if commissioners would request that Greene make online records of inmates more transparent and easy to read. He said he and others have found it difficult to discern from public records which inmates are ICE detainees and which are regular inmates facing federal charges.

“Especially at a time like this, with what our country is going through, the most basic thing we can ask for is transparency,” Kripchak said.

“Say what you will about [the Trump administration’s policies], I think we all should all be able to agree that we need to have transparency.

“So that should be easy considering it’s on a per-detainee, per-day basis.”

Darlene Petrolla of Poland spoke against ICE’s activities and Trump’s policies. She cited the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, which states that “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”

“That’s ‘no person,’ not just citizens,” she said.

Petrolla said she worries that ICE detainees will not have their day in court and will be whisked off in the night to a prison in El Salvador or elsewhere.

She said she wanted to know if the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office was holding any detainees and if the commissioners and Greene would consider not aiding ICE and enabling Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

Petrolla quoted Holocaust victim Anne Frank:

“Terrible things are happening outside. At any time of night and day, poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes…Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.”

Commissioner Geno DiFabio appeared to take exception to Petrolla’s comments, asserting that Petrolla suggested Greene was doing something illegal.

“I hope the sheriff is holding them,” he said. “You forgot to mention the part where they’re here illegally. They’re here in our community, so I hope he holds them until ICE comes to get them.”

Petrolla said she was not accusing Greene of illegal activity.

“What can we do to help them? Can’t we just give them a chance, help show them the way to legal citizenship?” she asked.