Law enforcement accountability at the Statehouse
Ohio House Members are introducing a package of bills to ensure accountability of law enforcement, ICE, and Border Patrol in Ohio.
"Law enforcement officers operating in the state of Ohio without providing their identifiers makes everyone less safe, it spurs dangerous impersonations and it impedes accountability for officers who are engaged in misconduct and overall undermines our trust with our law enforcement officials," said state Rep. Karen Brownlee (D-Symmes Township).
Said Ohio House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati), "We stand with the people of Ohio. We stand for our basic constitutional rights as Americans. We stand with our immigrant communities and we stand united against federal overreach that is sowing chaos and disorder in our communities.”
“These measures require law enforcement to do their jobs with integrity, professionalism, and fairness. We are living in extraordinary times when a legislative body has to introduce bills to ensure police and federal agents stay within the confines of the law,” said Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance. “Unfortunately, these bills are needed. We cannot trust federal agents to follow the law.”
She continued, “The Trump administration thinks there is a carveout in the Constitution just for them. They consistently implement policies they know are unconstitutional, and ignore court orders when it suits them. ICE and the Border Patrol use racial profiling to harass residents, and violence to enforce civil immigration laws. They’ve coddled at least thirty agents on their own force who are guilty of sexual and violent crimes against women in children — including two ICE agents in Ohio, Samuel Saxon and Andrew Golobic. Too often, Ohio state and local police help them instead of helping residents. Their actions make us less safe, and it has to stop. I look forward to reading the details of this legislation, but it’s so important that Ohio House members are standing up to this federal overreach.”
