[PHOTOS] Hundreds Protest ICE Arrests at Butler County Jail, One Protester Arrested

Hundreds gathered outside the Butler County Jail in Hamilton on Sunday to protest the recent wave of arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). One protester ended up in handcuffs after Hamilton Police Department officers ordered the roughly 200 protesters to vacate the street during the march.

Keep scrolling to see photos from the protest.
The protest comes after Department of Homeland Security agents arrested four men in a Kroger Parking Lot on Warsaw Avenue in East Price Hill. Those men, along with hundreds of other immigrants, await deportation hearings from inside the Butler County Jail where Sheriff Richard Jones has a special contract with the federal government to house ICE detainees. But Sunday’s protest centered on one detainee in particular: 19-year-old Emerson Colindres.

“Free Emerson! Free Emerson!” chanted the crowd, which included family, friends and former school teachers, many wearing shirts with the same phrase. Colindres, who lives on Cincinnati’s west side, was arrested by ICE agents on Wednesday during a routine check-in with immigration authorities. Colindres, who has no criminal record, now awaits deportation to his home country of Honduras, a country he hasn’t seen in over a decade. Ada Bell Baquedano Amador spoke with CityBeat about her son’s arrest ahead of Sunday’s protest with the help of an interpreter.

“This is something I would never want any mother to live through,” she said through tears. “My son has done nothing but study, play soccer, care for the people in the community, and that’s what we’ve all done. We’re part of a community here, and we’ve only tried to help people. You can look at our history; we have no criminal record, not me, not my daughter, not my son.”

Like Colindres, Kevin Bonecutter is a Cincinnati west-sider. He told CityBeat he turned out for Sunday’s protest to support a “great young student” from his community.

“We knew from the get-go with this president and his administration that they mischaracterized immigrants as criminals, rapists, whatever he may call them,” Bonecutter said. “They had the intent to come after anybody, whoever they may be, and Emerson is just one prime example of a great, young student here in our local schools. It really hits home as being a dad and member of that community. If that can happen, it can happen to anybody.”

ICE set a record on June 3 with more than 2,200 arrests in a single day, according to the agency. This comes as senior ICE officials urged officers to “turn the creative knob up to 11” by arresting “collaterals.” These are undocumented immigrants they encounter while serving arrest warrants for others, according to internal agency emails viewed by The Guardian. Tensions are ramping up in Los Angeles where National Guard troops deployed by President Donald Trump are using tear gas and rubber bullets against demonstrators protesting ICE arrests in Los Angeles.

“President Trump is using this as a way to expand his own authority,” said Drew Vasser of Cincinnati Socialists. “At the end of the day, we need to get out in the streets; staying home and watching the news is only going to keep bringing you down, and it doesn’t help anybody. We need to get out there and really show people that we’re fed up and we’re not going to take it anymore.”

Protesters marched peacefully from the Butler County Jail on Hanover Street down nearby East Avenue; that’s when officers from the Hamilton Police Department ordered the crowd to clear the street and march on the sidewalks. CityBeat witnessed several officers arresting one demonstrator, identified by jail records as Cayley Baker. She was charged with assault, obstructing official business, resisting arrest, failure to disclose personal information and disorderly conduct.

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Photos by Ryon Tunstull