GEOFF BENNETT: As the Trump administration ramps up deportation efforts nationwide, ICE has increasingly turned to local law enforcement through a program known as 287(g), which has existed for nearly 30 years.

Under these agreements, sheriff's offices can hold undocumented immigrants in local jails before they are deported or transferred.

And in some cases, officers are trained to take part directly in ICE operations.

Since January, the number of these agreements has surged more than 640 percent.

In Butler County, Ohio, Sheriff Richard Jones reinstated his county's partnership with the federal government when President Trump returned to office.

The county has since housed nearly 2,000 ICE detainees in its jails.

And Sheriff Jones joins us now.

Thanks for being with us.

RICHARD JONES, Butler County, Ohio, Sheriff: Yes, sir.

How are you doing today?

GEOFF BENNETT: I'm doing well.

Thank you.

So, as I understand it, you have partnered with and stepped away from, in some instances, partnerships on immigration enforcement with the federal government across five presidencies.

So, from your vantage point, how does the Trump administration's approach to immigration compare with what you saw and experienced under previous administrations?

RICHARD JONES: That's pretty simple.

Under Biden, it was hardly nothing.

I fired them the four years they were there.

The most deportation we ever done when we had 287(g), the enforcement model, and the jail model was under President Obama.

He was there eight years.

So he deported far more than Trump has in roughly five years.

GEOFF BENNETT: What do you think people misunderstand about the Obama era deportations as compared to the present moment?

RICHARD JONES: I think that it's in the past.

It's history.

Depending on what TV channels or where they get their news, they believe in whatever group they watch.

But the actual truth is, is that I have been in the deportation business and in fighting illegal immigration for almost 22 years, five presidents, and I have actually been there.

We deported when President Obama was president, eight years -- he had eight years.

President Trump has going on five.

So he's got a lot of catching up to do.

But it's -- in the United States, it's about 78 percent Democrat or Republican, Black or white.

It's about 78 percent, during the last election, wanted the border sealed, want something done with deportation.

President Trump is doing exactly what he said he was going to do.

He was going to go get these programs started and do deportation.

GEOFF BENNETT: As you know, there are critics who argue that 287(g) opens the door to racial profiling, especially in traffic stops and street-level enforcements.

So what specific safeguards do you have in place to make sure that your deputies aren't using that authority to target people based on how they look or what language they speak?

RICHARD JONES: Listen, we have been doing this since the beginning of time.

We stop people that are Black, white, red, all the colors in the rainbow, every religion.

Doesn't matter what kind of vehicles they drive.

We just don't do traffic enforcement.

We always do traffic enforcement.

It's other issues.

You commit crime, you drive drunk, just like anybody else, just like homegrown criminals do, and we don't look at color or religion or anything like that.

But people can believe what they want to believe.

I could not -- if I was on your show for 24 hours nonstop, I could not convince the naysayers.

GEOFF BENNETT: But what specific policies or safeguards do you have in place to make sure that people aren't being stopped based on how they look or the language that they speak?

RICHARD JONES: Basically, we monitor all their stops.

And we always have.

We monitor their stops.

We review.

We meet with them.

But we have done that for 22 years since we have had cameras and before that.

We always look at their reports, just like they do all over the country.

GEOFF BENNETT: Walk us through what's changed in your jails since you partnered again with the federal government under this program.

On an average day right now, how many ICE detainees are you housing?

And what does that mean for the space that's available for local inmates?

RICHARD JONES: That's pretty simple.

Today, I think we were up to 360.

It varies.

Sometimes, it's 300.

We have had as many as 430 ICE prisoners.

Depends on what they're doing in ICE.

And we have had up close to 500.

So it varies on what they're doing.

GEOFF BENNETT: You said that the federal contracts as part of this program have brought in more than $200 million over 20 years.

And you expect to hit a quarter-of-a-billion dollars by 2027.

Is that right?

RICHARD JONES: That's correct, and maybe more than that.

If you listen to the Homeland Security people, they suspect there's 20 to 30 million people here.

They need county jails for the jail space.

They don't have -- the federal government doesn't have county jails or federal jails.

They depend on county sheriff's offices.

Next year, we believe we're going to bring in $22 million, just next year.

This year, we will probably bring in 12, but it's just starting to ramp up.

GEOFF BENNETT: There are people who will hear those numbers and conclude that Butler County has a financial incentive to keep beds full of ICE detainees.

RICHARD JONES: Well, sure I am.

I have housed prisoners here.

I don't do it for free.

If other counties want to house prisoners here, they have to pay the going price.

And they don't have to come here.

But do we do it for free?

No.

There's a price that they have to pay to have them here, just like they always have.

We have had Marshal prisoners for probably 20 or 30 years.

They pay.

And we don't do it for free.

It helps cover the freight of our local prisoners.

So, no, it's -- it is what it is.

GEOFF BENNETT: ICE has come under renewed scrutiny, as you well know, across the country for what many folks see as aggressive tactics, in some cases, brutal tactics.

Do you believe that the that the way ICE is apprehending some of these folks is the best way to remove people who are in the country illegally, but who pose no public safety threat?

RICHARD JONES: Well, they all snuck into the country.

They're here illegally.

If they don't want to be here, go home.

They try to offer them places that they will ship you back and they will even give you money to go home.

You're here illegally.

You shouldn't be here.

The president ran on that premises, and he's keeping his promise.

And to stop this in these big cities, I have had 500 protesters here or more.

They protest all the time here in front of my jail.

They chain ourselves to the door.

And you know what that changes?

Absolutely nothing.

I agree with way they're doing it, and it's going to continue to ramp up.

They're actually doing more jail space.

And I support them 110 percent.

GEOFF BENNETT: Sheriff Richard Jones, thank you for your perspectives.

We appreciate it.

RICHARD JONES: Hey, appreciate you.

Thank you.