For 50 long years, life in Hamilton, a town of 63,000 people a half-hour north of Cincinnati, was in decline.<\/p>\n
Factories closed and thousands of residents moved away to Cincinnati, Columbus and beyond. The scourge of the opioid epidemic during the early 2000s sucked the life out of Butler county\u2019s seat of government.<\/p>\n
But then, slowly, immigrants came to town. And things began to get better.<\/p>\n
Inside Mary\u2019s Comida Casera, an unadorned Mexican restaurant serving Guanajuato food on Hamilton\u2019s southside, a telenovela plays on a pair of televisions while two elementary-age kids watch cartoons on a tablet in the corner.<\/p>\n
The restaurant, formerly a 136-year-old residential property, along with dozens of Latin American cafes, stores and businesses in the Jefferson and Riverview neighborhoods have helped bring life back to Hamilton\u2019s southside.<\/p>\n
This month, the community\u2019s growing presence was acknowledged when a huge mural titled Viva el Sue\u00f1o<\/a> \u2013 live the dream \u2013 was inaugurated in the Jefferson neighborhood.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a brown woman who\u2019s called this city home for over two decades, seeing public art that reflects our stories, struggles and dreams was incredibly moving,\u201d says Mitzi Hernandez, a community leader who moved from Mexico City to Hamilton 23 years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cIt felt like we were finally being seen.\u201d<\/p>\n Nearly four in 10<\/a> residents in a host of census tracts immediately west and south of downtown Hamilton identify as Hispanic. Despite its relatively small size, the number of people in the city who speak a language<\/a> other than English at home is almost double the Ohio average.<\/p>\n Not only are immigrants contributing to the renewed vibrancy of life in Hamilton through festivals<\/a> and community outreach work, their income, property and business tax dollars are padding the coffers of local and state authorities.<\/p>\n But in the center of the neighborhood, a stone\u2019s throw across a grassy area from Mary\u2019s Comida Casera, lies a place that\u2019s increasingly striking fear into the hearts of Hamilton\u2019s immigrants: the Butler county jail.<\/p>\n A report by the Journal-News newspaper that analyzed the jail roster<\/a> on 8 July found that of the 384 people detained at that time, more than 90% were there on immigration-related charges.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a real and growing concern,\u201d says Hernandez.<\/p>\n \u201cThis fear isn\u2019t limited to just the Hispanic community \u2013 it impacts all immigrant groups.\u201d<\/p>\n The jail is run by Richard Jones, an outspoken sheriff who among his long list of anti-immigration policies recently joked that while Florida has \u201cAlligator Alcatraz<\/a>\u201d, his town has a \u201cswamp squad<\/a>\u201d \u2013 posting images of inflatable crocodiles at the jail to his Facebook page this month. Many locals and rights groups called the posts \u201ccruel\u201d.<\/p>\n Jones and his populist, anti-immigrant messaging enjoy significant support among the local population. Since 2004, he has won every election for sheriff, often prevailing by three-to-one margins or running unopposed. He has appeared on Fox News<\/a> calling for the death penalty<\/a> for drug dealers.<\/p>\n But his controversial views go beyond mere rhetoric.<\/p>\n The detaining of hundreds of people on immigration charges earns the jail more than $24,000 a day or $720,000 a month in fees paid by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) \u2013 on top of $36 an hour in transportation fees the jail charges Ice.<\/p>\n At this month\u2019s Butler County Fair, the sheriff\u2019s office display included two mangled cars<\/a> that were involved in a fatal crash last year caused by an undocumented migrant from Mexico whose blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal driving limit. Why it picked this and not any one of the other 31 fatal crashes that happened in the county last year isn\u2019t apparent \u2013 emails, calls, voicemails and an in-person visit to the jail by the Guardian failed to secure an interview with Jones.<\/p>\n On the other side of the jail walls is Ayman Soliman, an Egyptian-born, Cincinnati-based imam who was detained this month<\/a> following the termination of his longstanding asylum status.<\/p>\n His confinement on 9 July, allegedly related to membership of a group purportedly linked to the Muslim Brotherhood \u2013 an organization outlawed in Egypt but not by the United States \u2013 has sparked recriminations, mounting fear and anger, and violent responses to protests in south-west Ohio<\/a>.<\/p>\n Soliman\u2019s detention and the outpouring of anger that has followed are emblematic of the wider split in American society, between those who believe the repressive policies of the Trump administration<\/a> are key to keeping the country safe, and those who think migrants are a cornerstone of the American way of life.<\/p>\n During a court hearing on 22 July, Soliman appeared by video link in a yellow-and-white prison jumpsuit wearing brown glasses and a salt-and-pepper beard. When asked by the immigration judge whether he needed an interpreter he declined.<\/p>\n Soliman\u2019s calm demeanor during the hearing belies what\u2019s at stake for him.<\/p>\n Should he be deported to Egypt, he could face the death penalty<\/a>; this month, an Egyptian news outlet accused him<\/a> of being a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, which he has vehemently denied.<\/p>\n Cincinnati seethes<\/strong><\/p>\n His predicament has fueled a groundswell of anger linked to police beatings, felony charges and seemingly impromptu firings.<\/p>\n On 17 July, Madeline Fening and photography intern Lucas Griffith, two CityBeat journalists<\/a>, were among 15 people arrested on felony rioting charges following an until-then peaceful protest in downtown Cincinnati against Soliman\u2019s detention.<\/p>\n Footage of the arrests<\/a> shows the demonstrators walking across the John A Roebling Bridge before Kentucky police, whose jurisdiction extends across the city\u2019s Ohio River bridges, repeatedly punch<\/a>, shoot pepper balls and violently subdue several participants.<\/p>\n While the felony charges initially filed against the reporters have since been dropped (police claimed<\/a> the journalists \u201cknowingly participated in a riot\u201d), they still face several misdemeanor charges.<\/p>\n In an environment in which the Trump administration has repeatedly vowed to go after elements of the media<\/a> it deems are hostile to its positions, press freedom groups have assailed the charges.<\/p>\n \u201cOur clients were doing their jobs and should have never been arrested in the first place,\u201d said William Sharp, senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Kentucky, which is defending the journalists.<\/p>\n \u201cA free press is critical to a functioning democracy, and those members of the press who, like our clients, merely cover a story enjoy the full protection of the US and Kentucky constitutions to do so. We look forward to zealously defending them in court.\u201d<\/p>\n The journalists and others face a preliminary hearing on 14 August.<\/p>\n \u201cJournalists and journalism are under threat \u2026 It is disappointing that our efforts to cover a protest were deliberately misinterpreted as rioting,\u201d says Ashley Moor, editor of CityBeat, in a statement provided through the ACLU of Kentucky.<\/p>\n \u201cThe suggestion that we were rioting was baseless and designed to intimidate us into silence and complicity.\u201d<\/p>\n All the while, the Kenton county police department has placed Zachary Stayton, the officer who repeatedly punched protest participant Brandon Hill, on administrative leave<\/a> with pay, pending an investigation. Stayton had been previously the subject of a 2023 lawsuit<\/a> for excessive use of force.<\/p>\n At a preliminary hearing for Hill, who was hospitalized due to the severity of his injuries and who is one of four protestors still facing felony rioting charges, the judge declined to view the video of the punching, stating<\/a>, \u201cThe officer\u2019s testimony is sufficient.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018This is my dream job<\/strong>\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Nor have Soliman\u2019s former colleagues<\/a> escaped apparent punishment for speaking out about his predicament.<\/p>\n For the past decade, the Rev Lizzy Diop worked as a chaplain at the Cincinnati Children\u2019s hospital, four of those years spent alongside Soliman.<\/p>\n \u201cCincinnati Children\u2019s has patients from around the world and quite a few from the Middle East. It\u2019s a big thing to travel to a new country with a new culture to get medical care \u2013 it\u2019s the most stressful time of their lives,\u201d says Diop, who is one of three people Soliman has asked to be allowed to visit him in jail.<\/p>\n \u201cThe delight in somebody\u2019s eyes, and the joy they take in [caring for] the kids; he had that.\u201d<\/p>\n When Diop heard that Soliman had been detained, she was shocked.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s not somebody who talks a lot about himself, but early on, he said: \u2018I came from Egypt to the United States to save my life.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Five days after his detention, she visited Soliman at the jail. Days later, after being interviewed<\/a> by a local television station \u2013 a move she believed was explicitly cleared by her employers \u2013 Diop was fired from the hospital.<\/p>\n \u201cI briefly talked to my manager and director, and we decided I would take PTO and meet off-campus and not wear any [hospital] gear [for the television interview],\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cI was talking about a former employee and some particular interaction about visiting a friend who was incarcerated.\u201d When Diop arrived at work the morning after the interview aired, her director told her she was facing serious disciplinary action for violating media policy.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is my dream job. It\u2019s a huge part of my identity. I felt like my world, my life, my self had been torn apart,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been here for 10 years, and I\u2019ve never had a disciplinary action; I got an \u2018exceeds expectations\u2019 review weeks before I was fired. I\u2019ve done nothing but good work,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Diop is still at a loss as to why she was fired.<\/p>\n \u201cHave I messed with a donor? Have I caused [the hospital] to fear repercussions from the Trump administration? I don\u2019t have an answer, but those are the two things that I thought of that could have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n Diop isn\u2019t alone.<\/p>\n Days after Adam Allen, another chaplain at Cincinnati Children\u2019s hospital, attended the vigil that preceded the bridge protest, the hospital fired him.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re firing people for speaking out,\u201d Allen told<\/a> the Cincinnati Enquirer.<\/p>\n Cincinnati Children\u2019s hospital is regarded as one of the top hospitals<\/a> in the US and receives hundreds of millions<\/a> of federal government dollars every year for treatment and research. In March, the hospital was one of three healthcare facilities investigated by the federal government<\/a> on discrimination charges for programs aimed at helping students from minority backgrounds.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t comment on current or former personnel,\u201d responded a Cincinnati Children\u2019s hospital spokesperson to the Guardian\u2019s query asking why Diop and Allen were fired.<\/p>\n Back in Hamilton, leaders in the Hispanic communities are further panicked by the move last month to allow local law enforcement officers<\/a> in Butler county to do the job of Ice agents such as detaining and arresting people suspected to be undocumented immigrants. At least 10 Butler county deputies have become certified Ice agents having taken part in a 40-hour training program.<\/p>\n With nearly three-quarters of Hamilton\u2019s foreign-born population not US citizens, an overwhelming majority of the community is living in fear.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s anxiety, especially as we see Ice activity increasing in other states,\u201d says Hernandez.<\/p>\n \u201cBut our community is incredibly resilient. We\u2019ve faced hardship before. Moving to a new country in search of a better life takes courage, and despite fear, people continue to push forward. The most important thing we can do is come together.\u201d<\/p>\n There are signs that Republicans in Butler county, where almost 63% of voters backed Trump in November\u2019s presidential election, are growing uneasy with Jones\u2019s and the White House\u2019s anti-immigrant drive.<\/p>\n On Friday, the Butler county prosecutor, Mike Gmoser, a self-declared \u201clifelong conservative Republican<\/a>\u201d, warned of \u201cpotential liability\u201d and legal implications for county leaders and authorities for imprisoning hundreds of people on immigration rather than criminal charges, and said he had sought the opinion of the state attorney general.<\/p>\n Soliman last week filed a lawsuit challenging the termination of his asylum status, and his next court hearing is set for 12 August, taking his detention at Butler county jail to more than a month.<\/p>\n