ACLU questions if Mahoning Co. Jail is legally allowed to house ICE inmates

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio is calling for the release of all wrongfully detained ICE inmates based on the opinion from Attorney General Dave Yost. 

That opinion, issued this week, states only county commissioners have the right to enter into contracts with federal immigration authorities, not the sheriffs themselves. 

“This is something that needs to be done. We’re getting immigration under control because of the way it was left over the last four years,” Geno DiFabio, Mahoning County Commissioner said. 

DiFabio and Commissioner Anthony Traficanti both said if the power is turned over to them, they’ll sign whatever they have to continue housing ICE detainees. 

“We have to follow the law, we have to follow protocol. Sheriff Greene has a jail that he has to manage and he has to keep it constitutional,” Traficanti said. 

Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti did not return calls for comment. 

About 100 alleged illegal aliens are being held in the Mahoning jail right now. Sheriff Jerry Greene told 21 News none of them will be released based on the ACLU’s demand.

“If we’re not housing those inmates for the federal government they're going to be housed somewhere…we're very keyed into the care of the inmates…we’re thinking they’re being cared for pretty well at our place,” Sheriff Greene said. 

The jail in Youngstown has been housing ICE detainees since April. The jail also entered into contract agreements before this year to temporarily house those arrested by ICE. 

The sheriff's office and commissioners are working with the Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office to make sure their paperwork is in line with the AG’s opinion. Lynn Mauro said the contract might already comply but if it doesn’t they’ll make that change.

“It actually isn't very complicated,” Mauro said. “There's no getting in trouble with the attorney general, there's no sanction from the attorney general.”

If the contract was only in the sheriff's name, legal experts from the ACLU Ohio said detainees could file a lawsuit for wrongful imprisonment and petition for a release.

“If these people have been plucked out of their homes and life out of their communities and detained and locked up they’ve lost their freedom. They’re entitled to their freedom,” Freda Levenson, the Legal Director at the ACLU Ohio said. 

Freda said they haven't seen the contract from the federal authorities about the Mahoning Jail agreement and doesn't know who it was signed by on the local end. She claims the ACLU of Ohio has requested it through a Public Records Request.