sparked heated debate<\/a> and multiple disruptions during the meeting.<\/p>\nThe approval allows the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office to accept a $140,000 grant that would beef up its federal partnership beyond its existing jail-based relationship with ICE.<\/p>\n
Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare supported the grant, saying it would “protect every single community regardless of neighborhood status.”<\/p>\n
But the meeting grew contentious as commissioners debated the proposal. The sheriff’s office escorted one man out early in the proceedings, and tensions escalated when Commissioner Alisa Simmons, who opposes the expansion, clashed with O’Hare.<\/p>\n
“You don’t think the rules apply to you,” O’Hare said before calling an unscheduled recess.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During the break, another person was forced to leave.<\/p>\n
More than a dozen people attended with signs asking commissioners to reject the grant.<\/p>\n
“The administration said that they were going to get the worst of the worst, but that’s not what’s happening,” said Lindsey Marone, who opposed the partnership.<\/p>\n
Brook Bright raised concerns about oversight. “There is no clear guarantee of safety, no clear oversight and no accountability,” Bright said.<\/p>\n
Only one person spoke in support of the proposal during public comment.<\/p>\n
Simmons and Commissioner Roderick Miles unsuccessfully tried to convince their colleagues to limit the county’s reach with ICE.<\/p>\n
“I do not support ICE. I do not support this grant, and I do not support expanding immigration enforcement at the county level,” Simmons said.<\/p>\n
Simmons cited recent county issues, including two jail escapes last week and 76 deaths in custody, as reasons to oppose the expansion. “Tarrant County has its own problems to fix and deal with operationally,” she said.<\/p>\n
A public survey Simmons shared ahead of the vote showed overwhelming opposition. Of 2,676 respondents, 2,541 \u2014 or 98% \u2014 opposed expanding the ICE contract, while 135 supported it.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Matt Krause argued the grant would reimburse the county for work its already doing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We already have a partnership whether people want it or not,” Krause said.<\/p>\n
The expansion would be funded through the grant, paying deputies $64.64 an hour to assist ICE.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Manny Ramirez cast the deciding vote for the expanded partnership.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It’s not fair to vilify an entire profession, an entire workforce of federal law enforcement efforts because questionable things have happened,” Ramirez said.<\/p>\n
Krause said he would monitor the impact of the expansion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“As a commissioner, you have to continue to have oversight over every decision that you make,” he said, adding that local deputies know the area better than outside agents.<\/p>\n
The vote comes amid protests locally and nationwide following the killing of American citizens by ICE agents in Minneapolis. North Texans have also protested reports of a proposed ICE detention facility in Hutchins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Commissioners approved the controversial expansion amid heated protests, escorting multiple people out during contentious Tuesday meeting. TARRANT COUNTY,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151],"class_list":{"0":"post-159129","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arlington","8":"tag-arlington","9":"tag-arlington-headlines","10":"tag-arlington-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}