Kent County uses our tax money to help ICE - and wants more
As this message was being written on a Sunday morning, half a dozen members of our community were ripped off the streets of Grand Rapids. People who were spending time with their families. People getting ready for church. People resting after working all week. People. This is happening nearly every day right in our front yards.
On Friday, July 31, a few members of Kent County Indivisible stood trial on charges of trespassing at the Kent County Sheriff Department (KCSD). Earlier this year, the group stood in solidarity with Movimiento Cosecha Grand Rapids by asking to meet with the Sheriff and to demand a stop to the department’s cooperation with ICE. The group refused to leave and ultimately were arrested without ever speaking to her.
For years, the Kent County Board of Commissioners, Kent County Sheriff Department and the Grand Rapids Police Department have claimed not to be working with ICE nor to have a contract with ICE. Recently, through a FOIA request, a KCSD policy dated March 5, 2025, and having no revisions, revealed that Kent County Corrections Personnel “works closely with Immigration Enforcement and Removal officials.” The policy includes language stating that the KCSO has engaged in an I-247 Detainer. According to I-247 Detainer form instructions, the law enforcement agency will “Maintain custody of the subject for a period NOT TO EXCEED 48 HOURS, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, beyond the time when the subject would have otherwise been released from your custody to allow DHS to take custody of the subject. This request derives from federal regulation 8 C.F.R. § 287.7. For purposes of this immigration detainer, you are not authorized to hold the subject beyond these 48 hours. As early as possible prior to the time you otherwise would release the subject, please notify DHS by calling________________during business hours or_______________after hours or in an emergency. If you cannot reach a DHS Official at these numbers, please contact the ICE Law Enforcement Support Center in Burlington, Vermont at: (802) 872-6020.”
Time and time again, witnesses have shared their first-hand experiences of community members being arrested by the Grand Rapids Police Department, the Kent County Sheriff and others on seemingly minor offenses and are then detained at the Kent County Jail. The detainees are quickly booked and then pay their bond, only to learn that they will not actually be released. This is because KCSD engages with their I-247 agreement and have reported these individuals to ICE. ICE then removes the individual to their custody – typically at North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin. Many times, this occurs before an individual can have legal counsel or even see their family members. In response to those bearing witness time and time again, the Sheriff has denied that any of this is happening. The Kent County Board of Commissioners not only denies this is happening, they claim there is nothing they can do about it. We disagree.
On Friday, July 31, during the trial of the four individuals who were tried for trespassing at the KCSD, we heard testimony from Bryan Muir, Under Sheriff of Kent County. In a report by GRIID, “Muir said they share Flock camera images with all federal agencies that request them for a criminal investigation. Muir would not name ICE as being a federal agency, even when pressed on the matter, but by saying all federal agencies he admitted that includes ICE.” The article goes on to share that the KCSD has engaged in surveillance of Movimiento Cosecha after this interaction at the Sheriff’s office in January. Here is a link to the GRIID article, if you would like to read more.
On Tuesday, August 4 at 8:00am, a special meeting of the Kent County Board of Commissioners has been called. It is open to the public and will be held in the Board of Commissioners Chambers Rm 310 at the County Administration Building, 300 Monroe Ave N.W. Here is a link to the agenda packet. On the agenda is a review of language for a ballot proposal to renew the 20-year Corrections Millage two years early. Why does the KCSD request this early renewal? Because their expenses to operate have increased.
Coincidentally, this special meeting is occurring on Election Day and a half-hour earlier than normally scheduled.
Kent County Indivisible encourages attendance and participation at this meeting. Open comment is available for agenda items (which would include the language of the proposed ballot proposal). Later in the meeting is time for open comment on any general topic. It is imperative to have community show up and speak out. We question the timing of this proposal and meeting time. Will the current board of commissioners be the same group of people after the November election? Is this an attempt to circumvent the will of the people and push through an unpopular agenda topic while we are busy participating in the election? Perhaps you have some suggestions on how to lower their expenses. Might we recommend not racially profiling our community members nor doing ICE’s work for them?
The leaders of Kent County, the Kent County Sheriff Department, the Grand Rapids City Commission and the Grand Rapids Police Department are all complicit in the direct harm to the individuals being wrongfully detained and to their family members by this egregious participation and denial of their own actions. We will not accept this, nor the excuses that they are helpless. We demand change. These practices not only harm our immigrant community – it is a dangerous activity and harms our entire community.
Did we mention this special meeting is scheduled on the Michigan Primary Election Day? This year, August 4 is not “just a primary”. It is more important than ever to be engaged in electing officials who will follow the will of their constituents out in the open. Early elections end today, Sunday August 2nd. Absentee ballots are still accepted through Tuesday, August 4 and should be done in person. If you wish to waste your ballot and update your previously-submitted vote, you may do so by providing a request in writing to your clerk. This also should be done in person through election day.
“The power of the people is greater than the people in power!”