Sheriff defends refusal to release ICE records

TIFFIN — Seneca County Sheriff Fred Stevens pushed back against a lawsuit filed by Ohio's branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, that claims his office violated state public records law by refusing to release contracts and communications tied to its work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). As reported Tuesday by The Advertiser-Tribune, the ACLU says it requested the records March 12 and was told April 4 that the documents were "federal records subject to the Federal Records Act" and therefore not subject to disclosure under Ohio law. The organization's lawsuit seeks to compel the sheriff's office to turn over the records, which include agreements with ICE, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Marshals Service. The ACLU contends these records relate to the sheriff's office's ongoing partnerships with ICE, which include housing ICE detainees at the county jail, participating in ICE's 287(g) Task Force model that trains road deputies to arrest people with ICE detainers and the 287(g) Warrant Service Officer model that trains jail staff to serve ICE administrative warrants. In a statement to The Advertiser-Tribune, Stevens said he has answered the ACLU's requests each time by providing information on how to file a federal Freedom of Information Act request with ICE. He cited the Federal Records Act, which he said defines federal records as all recorded information made or received by a federal agency in the course of its official duties and subject to preservation. Stevens also pointed to federal regulations that prohibit the release of information about ICE detainees and noted that the Ohio Public Records Act excludes records whose release is barred by state or federal law. "We have been an ICE facility for 25 years, since 2000, and I have been sheriff since 2021," Stevens said. "I find it funny that it is only now that the ACLU is trying to sue to get ICE detainee information and never reached out during the last administration or for that matter, the last 25 years. They are suing Geauga County and other ICE detention facilities for the same information and didn't wait for those cases to wind through the process." Stevens said he sought guidance from ICE's Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, which reviewed the ACLU's request and concluded the materials are federal records not subject to state disclosure rules. "I sent this to them a couple times after each time they said it was (a) Ohio public request and gave me a deadline or else they would sue," he said.