Audience grows for Ohio sheriff's blunt immigration talk | Opinion

Say what you will about Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones, he’s been a consistently persistent voice of criticism about U.S. immigration policy.

He made "illegal aliens" a target early in his first term of office, and nearly 20 years later, he’s finding his audience outside of his Ohio county just north of Cincinnati growing while border concerns loom as a major political issue in the 2024 elections.

"I’m very outspoken," Jones agreed readily in an interview in his office in Hamilton. "I’m not afraid to give opinions. I say what I think and I mean what I say."

His megaphone has gotten bigger with the help of conservative radio and television shows and social media.

Coverage of the recent arrest of a Mexican murder suspect, who Jones said had been repeatedly deported after being jailed in Butler County only to keep getting back across the border, got tens of millions of views on the Elon Musk-owned X (formerly Twitter) platform. It’s among recent immigration developments that have landed Jones on Fox News and Newsmax, among other media outlets, for interviews.

He's been introduced by the conservative Newsmax network in recent appearances as an "immigration expert" and "one of America’s top sheriffs."

"I feel honored and blessed to be able to state my opinions," Jones said of the media attention.

He rarely turns down an interview request from any outlet, even once appearing on Jon Stewart’s "The Daily Show" knowing full well he would be parodied.

Jones said his goals are to represent his constituents and to push for needed changes.

"I use the media to get my viewpoint out," he said. "As sheriff, I can make a difference not only countywide but countrywide.

"I do what I can; sometimes I have a very large voice. And not everybody likes me. And that’s OK."

Long before Donald Trump first ran for office, Jones had developed a Trump-like style: bombastic, divisive and controversy-fueled.

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He’s drawn a range of criticism over the years, particularly on immigration. Protesters outside his jail have included nuns and the parents of Hispanic children. Some protesters once chained themselves to his office’s front door. He disputes allegations that he has singled out Hispanics, saying a rising national immigration concern now is migrants from countries including China, other Asian and some African nations, and the Caribbean nation of Haiti.

'Illegal Aliens Here' signs drew national attention to Butler County

Jones first received national news media attention in 2005 by putting up signs outside his jail stating: "Illegal Aliens Here" with an arrow. He said that was because federal immigration officials claimed they couldn’t find undocumented immigrants.

That was soon followed by billboards around the county featuring Jones warning: "Hire an Illegal − BREAK THE LAW!" He said he feels sympathy for undocumented migrants hired for tough, sometimes dangerous, jobs such as roofing and are at the mercy of employers who know they won’t dare report workplace abuses. It’s not a good way to introduce migrants to all the positive things about our country, Jones said.

He set up a tip line and a few years later, sent the Mexican government a bill for nearly $1 million for the cost of housing undocumented Mexicans in his jail. He got rebuked by the U.S. government for that, Jones recalled.

Viewers on national media outlets might be surprised that Jones, who has an Old-West lawman look with his thick moustache and the cowboy hats he often wears, polices a county more than 1,400 miles from the U.S. southern border. Jones has visited the border three times "to see for myself."

U.S. Census estimates have indicated that 9% of the county seat of Hamilton’s some 63,000 residents are Hispanic − many of them living in a neighborhood near Jones’ jail − and that only a small percentage of the residents aren’t U.S. citizens.

No matter. Jones said his jail has held some 1,000 undocumented migrants in the past three years, accounting for some 2,000 criminal charges. He doesn’t contend migrants are necessarily more prone to crime, but said, "I have enough to deal with, with my homegrown criminals. I don’t need others from other countries."

From the editor: NPR's Uri Berliner paid a big price for speaking out; we owe him a listen

Also, he said, the importation of deadly drugs such as fentanyl, the rise of human trafficking and the possible infiltration by terrorists are border issues that affect the entire nation.

"Every state is a border state," he said.

Jones: Lock Congress members in room until they reach border solution

Unsurprisingly, he was an early and staunch supporter of fellow Republican Trump’s presidential campaigns and has spoken at Trump rallies. He would expect Trump to be more aggressive on immigration in a second term than President Joe Biden has been, although Jones noted that Democratic President Barack Obama was dubbed the "Deporter in Chief" for his efforts to bring illegal immigration under control.

"I believe that whoever wins the election, they’ve got their hands full. No other country in the world lets people come in and you don’t know who they are: good people along with people who are here to do us harm. I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better."

He suggested better communication between federal authorities and local law enforcement, tougher penalties, and stepped-up border enforcement. And a commitment in Washington to decisive action.

"If Congress and the Senate could get in a room together and they weren’t allowed to come out of this room − they could feed them in the room − they could come up with a solution."

He mulled in the past running for Senate and even once took petitions out to make a primary challenge to then-House Speaker John Boehner of nearby West Chester Township. He decided not to run "because I was afraid I’d get elected!" he guffawed, recoiling at the thought of being a low-ranking representative in Washington.

Now 70, Jones has no opposition for election to a sixth four-year term this November.

"I’m planning on staying until I can’t do the job anymore," said Jones, who comes from a law enforcement family including a father who was a Hamilton city police officer. "I enjoy this work."

Although he refers often to his working-class roots and urban public-school education, Jones has earned a criminal justice degree from Wilmington College and a master’s in Corrections from Xavier University. He’s active in the National Sheriffs’ Association on immigration policy.

A side project has been writing a book about his life and experiences. He hasn’t decided yet what his next move will be for publishing and marketing the book, to be titled "They Call Me Jonesy."

But you can expect to see and hear him talking about it a lot when he does.

EXTRA POINT

While Trump bashes NPR, Biden seethes about NYT

With National Public Radio under fire after now-former staffer Uri Berliner publicly criticized his employer for unbalanced reporting during the Trump presidency and for increased left-leaning advocacy. Enquirer Executive Editor Beryl Love wrote in his most recent column about the efforts in many newsrooms to understand and respond to "perceptions of bias and how to restore trust."

Trump, of course, reacted quickly to Berliner’s criticisms of NPR, calling in a social media post for an end to public funding and charging that NPR is only out to "damage Trump" and is a "liberal disinformation machine."

But then stories started emerging about an apparent feud between Democratic President Joe Biden and The New York Times, usually described as liberal.

Reports indicate that the Biden-Times rift goes back to the 2020 Democratic primary, when The Times’ editorial page supported Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Since he’s been president, the word is, he’s been unhappy with Times coverage of his age, now 81, and his low poll standings, among other things.

Pulitzer Prize-winning Times columnist Maureen Dowd has complained to colleagues she was cut off by some White House officials after she wrote about the president’s scandal-plagued son, Hunter, Politico.com reported in an April 25 story examining the Biden-Times strains. The Times’ publisher has complained about Biden’s refusal to do sit-down interviews.

The Times’ chief White House correspondent, Peter Baker, said every White House complains about coverage.

"It comes with the territory," Baker told Politico.com. "But because of Trump, there’s this new assumption that The New York Times and other media are supposed to put their thumb on the scale and take sides, and we don’t do that."

Trump helped set up such a perception by calling journalists "the enemy of the people," corrupt and "fake news."

My firsthand experience during 40-plus years in daily journalism was that the vast majority of journalists are driven by competition and the desire to report and explain the most important news, not taking sides.

Writing for the Opinion page allows more leeway in, well, expressing opinions, but fairness and accuracy are still goals.

As Love concluded, when in doubt, news organizations should "err on the side of listening."

Dan Sewell is a regular Opinion contributor. Contact him at dsewellrojos@gmail.com

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones' immigration megaphone grows