Fact-Checking Sheriff Jones on Immigration, Again
The Ohio Immigrant Alliance is here to correct the record, once again, about Sheriff Jones’ immigration lies. We are asking all media outlets to verify his claims before reporting them as fact.
In an interview that aired on September 25, Sheriff Jones told CBS he helped the government deport “close to 7,000” people during Trump’s second term. In an interview published by WCPO on September 23 and the Journal-News on September 30, Jones claimed that “approximately 6,000 people had been deported from the Butler County Jail during the roughly 18- to 19-month period preceding the interview.”
Neither of these figures is true.
Since the beginning of President Trump’s second term (January 2025) through August 5, 2026, a total of 3,593 people who had been incarcerated at the Butler County Jail for ICE were deported under formal removal orders — 2,304 in 2025 and 1,289 in 2026. An additional 19 people in 2025, and 22 people in 2026, left the country via voluntary departure agreements.
That makes a grand total of 3,634 people removed from the United States in 2025 and 2026 after spending time in the Butler County Jail — a far cry from the six to seven thousand Jones claims. A total of 4,792 people were booked into the Butler County Jail in that time period, according to OIA’s analysis and The Marshall Project.
Find our data sources, analysis, and other key takeaways in this new report, “Butler County Jail Deportation and Detention Summary: 2025–2026.”
“Government officials like Sheriff Jones and Secretary Mullin are making up numbers and lying to our faces,” said Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance. “We’ve used their own data to prove their claims false, over and over again. The American people shouldn’t have to put up with lies from officials whose salaries we pay.”
“In our experience, politicians lie when they think telling the truth hurts them. Like when Trump said he was going to deport ‘bad guys,’ and it turned out that most of the people being deported are regular folks trying to take care of their families,” Tramonte continued. “Those are the same people in Jones’ jail. He likes to talk tough and act like a TV character, but taxpayers are tired of the lies. The public deserves honesty from elected officials, even if those officials don’t like the story the numbers tell. We are calling on the media to fact-check information that comes out of Jones’ and other officials’ mouths, rather than rushing to publish stories that contain false claims.”
The Ohio Immigrant Alliance fact-checked Chief Dwyer when he told a pack of lies to Butler County Commissioners. We fact-checked DHS Secretary Mullin when he came to Warren County and lied about how many Haitians his department had arrested, and why ICE is putting heavy, embarrassing, and unnecessary ankle shackles on people who always show up for ICE and immigration court appointments. Mullin’s ankle shackles directly led to Pierre Damas Bel’s death.
OIA employs a contract researcher to analyze U.S. government data and produce detailed reports, with the methodology clearly delineated for anyone to evaluate, test, and replicate. We urge members of the media to recognize the pattern of lies coming from DHS, the Butler County Sheriff's Office, and others who profit off of the Trump administration’s immigration policy, and review every factual claim.
“Unlike Sheriff Jones, I know immigration law,” added Tramonte. “I’ve worked in this field for 28 years. I was a consultant at the Immigration and Naturalization Service. After that, I advised Congress on changes to immigration law, and law enforcement associations on how to build stronger relationships with immigrants in their communities.”
She continued, “At the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, we check our facts and include sources and methodologies in our reports, because our credibility is our currency. As responsible members of the media check the Trump administration’s statements before publishing their claims, we are asking Ohio media to do the same with the Butler County Sheriff’s Office. They haven’t said an accurate thing about immigrants since they got their ICE contract back, and don’t understand immigration law. The public needs true information, not quick information. Sheriff Jones might think he’s a ‘character,’ but he’s really a caricature, and taxpayers deserve an honest leader instead.”
Note — In the CBS interview, Jones also claimed that protestors had once chained themselves to his jailhouse doors. Staff at the Ohio Immigrant Alliance cannot recall a time this happened, and a media scan of the past five years did not return any examples. If this did take place, we welcome information about when, where, and who the incident involved, for verification purposes. If it didn’t, then it should be added to the long list of Jones’ lies.
For more data on detention in the Butler County Jail, read:
Butler County Jail Deportation and Detention Summary: 2025–2026
ICE Detention in Ohio After the Trump Administration Ended TPS for Haiti
Ohio Immigration and Customs Enforcement Activity Report (January 2025 - March 2026)
To learn how immigrants, lawyers, and allies organized to end the ICE contract at the Butler County Jail during the first Trump administration, and are working on doing it again, read Ending Immigration Jail in Ohio: How and Why.
For additional Ohio Immigrant Alliance fact checks, read:
