The federal government is in the beginning stages of pumping up immigration enforcement with raids and arrests across the country.
But there haven’t been any big operations targeting people in the country without legal status reported in Ohio. Attorney General Dave Yost said the federal government has not reached out to him about possible raids or other actions.
“it's my understanding that they're going to prioritize people that have criminal records or final deportation orders, and that's where they're going to start. Since there's hundreds of thousands of those people, I expect it'll take a while to get to anybody else,” Yost said. “But the idea is that local law enforcement, local officials need to cooperate with what federal authorities do to enforce federal law.”
Yost said the state, counties and cities need to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement because local communities and states do not have the authority to make their own immigration policies.
According to the Center for Immigration Studies, Ohio has four sanctuary counties – Franklin, Mahoning, Lorain and Hamilton – but no cities that have officially declared themselves sanctuary cities. But some are on record as opposed to immigration crackdowns.
When asked about Columbus’ immigration policy, Mayor Andrew Ginther’s office pointed to a 2017 executive order that said says the city will not discriminate against people based on their immigration status and absent a court order, will not deploy resources for the sole purpose of detecting or apprehending someone based on suspicions of their immigration status. However, Ginther’s office said Columbus will comply with state and federal laws.
Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval has said his city will follow any new federal immigration policy.
Yost said he thinks the state needs a law to make sure cities have the same, consistent policy when it comes to immigration.
“As we are seeing a change in policy and the enforcement at the federal level, I think it's important for the state of Ohio to make sure that local governments aren't trying to do a DIY immigration policy,” Yost said. “Local governments don't have any more right to make their own immigration policy than they do to print their own money. There's certain things that belong to the national government.”
Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania) sponsored House Bill 666 in the last general assembly that would have required cities and counties in Ohio to follow federal immigration policy but it failed to pass. It seems likely that it will be reintroduced in this session.
