Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski spoke to Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview. (Portage County Sheriff's Office/ICE)
Despite all the controversy surrounding his decision, Zuchowski saw it as an obvious choice.
"People expect — there is an expectation that law enforcement is going to keep them safe and we're going to do it by whatever means we have available to us," he explained.
"There's nobody, and I don't care what party you are, that wants anybody criminal, whether they're here legally or not, roaming around in their county and their communities. So, that's all we've done," he added. "At the end of the day, it's just doing the right thing."
Zuchowski, himself a former deputy sheriff, said that in the past, deputies would have to wait hours or even days for ICE to be able to pick up a criminal illegal alien. During the Biden administration, he said that he was even told that unless the illegal criminal had "severed heads" in the back of their vehicle or had committed some extreme heinous crime, ICE agents could not even come to check on the illegal.
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ICE’s federal law enforcement officers take Jorge Carvajal Castrejon, 36, into custody in Houston on Jan. 28. (ICE)
He noted that he is "surprised" more Ohio sheriffs have not already signed onto the 287(g) program because of how much safer he believes it will make their communities. He said he is hopeful more sheriffs will "do the right thing."
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"We're just doing our part as law enforcement to keep people safe," he said. "Basically, it's like President Trump walked into a large conference of law enforcement officials and said, ‘Hey, who wants to be a part of this 287-G Act and help ICE to be able to get criminal, illegal immigrants, migrants out of America?' And I simply raised my hand."
Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ohio-sheriff-defends-new-ice-partnership-just-doing-right-thing