Benton County has approved a fund to support local law enforcement cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Last week, Quorum Court voted unanimously for a resolution to establish the 287(g) ICE Program Fund. The night's agenda drew so many people that the Bentonville courtroom could not hold all of them for over two hours.
More than 50 people spoke during public comment both for and against the resolution, including Luke Heffron of Rogers, who is running for justice of the peace in District 5 and helped to organize the evening's crowd of 287(g) supporters.
"And so we wanted to encourage the Quorum Court, the justices of the peace, to show them that the public was behind them. And we also wanted to demonstrate to the opponents of 287(g) that this is not their county. This is a conservative county."
Silvia Vallejo opposes the fund and gathered with other protesters outside of the courthouse. She says the decision is unsurprising, but not the end of their fight.
"That being said, we don't want people to be discouraged if that's the outcome tonight because the strategy going forward is to boycott Benton County community-led events and any events where Benton County Sheriff officers will be present. We don't want to do this. We are already hurting economically, but it all pales in comparison to what our immigrant and Black and brown neighbors are going through daily with this administration and this local government."
The fund will allow County Sheriff's Office to collect reimbursement money for costs incurred while cooperating with ICE, such as transportation. During the meeting, the court also voted to allow the county judge to apply for a $45 million federal grant that could be used to expand the county jail.
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