Immigration is a major concern to many Americans. It was a centerpiece in the 2024 election, in which then-candidate Donald Trump vowed to enact the largest mass deportation in U.S. history.

Since elected, now-President Trump’s efforts to make good on that promise have drawn both praise and scorn.

Welcome to the Weekly Roundup, where we bring you the top stories from today’s Dayton Daily News and major stories from the past week you may have missed.

This week, that includes a look at how increased immigration enforcement is playing out in the Dayton region, including a tour of the Butler County Jail, which serves as the region’s ICE detention center.

Do you have a news tip or an issue you think our reporters should look into? Contact me at [email protected], or you can use our anonymous tipline.

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Inside southwest Ohio’s ICE holding facility

The Butler County Jail has become the epicenter of the immigration debate in southwest Ohio. It’s where people picked up here and across the region by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are often taken. This has made it a target for protests as well.

• Jail tour: Reporter Mike Pitman toured the jail and spoke to Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones and others about its operation. Read his full story here.

• Price tag: U.S. taxpayers are paying Butler County $68 per day per federal inmate. The number of ICE detentions at the facility fluctuate, but often comprise more than half of the jail’s 860-bed capacity.

• Jail roster: Mike analyzed the jail roster on July 10. Of the 384 inmates detained for ICE that day, less than 8% had any charges other than immigration law violations.

• Notable inmates: Inmates on ICE holds include people from Clark, Greene, Franklin, Hamilton, Montgomery and Warren counties.

- This includes Jose Antonio Alvarenga of New Lebanon whose wife has court documents that appear to show he was arrested as a case of mistaken identity because he has the same name as a man wanted in connection to a 2001 homicide in El Salvador.

- Also Imam Ayman Soliman, a chaplain for Cincinnati Children’s Hospital with no criminal history whose asylum was revoked.

- Armando Reyes Rodriguez of Tipp City was deported to Honduras after a monthslong stay at the Butler County Jail. The pastor of his church says Reyes was in the country with ICE’s permission and was tricked into coming to an ICE office where he was arrested despite his family’s pending asylum claim.

• Jail conditions: A federal lawsuit filed in 2020 alleges two refugees — Bayong Brown Bayong and Admed Adem — while housed at the Butler County Jail were repeatedly beaten and threatened during their ICE detainment. Jones denies these allegations.

• Pushback: A group of Butler County residents attended a county commission meeting last week asking the sheriff to “get out of the deportation business.” At least one Republican county commissioner expressed reservations about the sheriff’s reported actions.

• Jones’ take: “We need to know who’s in our country, who’s in our community, and not everybody is here to help us, and to help us make us a better country,” he said. “It’s a local issue because it affects the people that hire me. It affects us every single day here in this community, and people are fed up with it.”