An Akron state representative plans to introduce legislation establishing minimum standards for immigration detention facilities.
The bill comes after statewide scrutiny over conditions at a Cincinnati area jail that has a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The bill, sponsored by Ohio Reps. Veronica Sims of Akron and Ashley Bryant Bailey of Cincinnati, would apply to local jails contracting with ICE, ensuring people who are detained have adequate meals, medical care and weather appropriate clothing.
The bill also reaffirms the rights of people detained to a reasonable wage for all labor and reasonable access to communicate with family, friends and legal representatives.
"Immigration enforcement is a civil process, and our laws require due process and humane treatment at every step," Bryant Bailey said in a . "When detention facilities fail to meet fundamental standards, especially for children, the state has failed. This bill exists to correct that failure.
Sims鈥� district previously included Akron鈥檚 North Hill neighborhood, which has a large population of Nepalese and Bhutanese immigrants. She remains concerned about their safety, she said.
鈥淭hey are living in fear and choosing isolation over the possibility of being snatched off the street by masked men in unmarked vehicles," she said.
The bill she鈥檚 co-sponsoring stems from concerns of overcrowding and a lack of medical attention at the Butler County Jail near Cincinnati, Sims said, which has a contract with ICE.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have really access to these facilities," she said, "and I think that鈥檚 the other thing that鈥檚 being asked for: that we do have opportunities to make unannounced visits to these locations to see really what鈥檚 going on.鈥�
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections recently found the jail meets its standards, but immigrant advocates cite reports of overcrowding, lack of heat, lack of medical attention and the fact that people detained by ICE aren't separated from other people incarcerated at the jail.
In a letter from January, Ohio Reps. Christine Cockley and Mark Sigrist and Ohio Sen. Bill DeMora sent a letter to ODRC asking officials to perform unannounced inspections, review the jail's capacity, fix any heating issues, explain why people detained by ICE aren't separated from the general population and assess the state's legal liability for conditions at the jail.
In reply, ODRC officials stated the Butler County Jail is compliant with 174 of 175 of the department's standards and that an inspection found no issues with heating or medical care.
