The chair of the Oklahoma County Board of County Commissioners is suing his own jail trust, of which he also is a member. The lawsuit is an attempt to force the trust to cooperate with ICE.
County Commissioner Kevin Calvey first introduced a rule that would require the county jail to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and detain people for the agency when it asks.
After the board passed that rule in a 2-1 vote, Calvey added his name onto this lawsuit alongside a private citizen named Tom Vineyard and the gun rights group OK2A.
They want the Oklahoma County District Court to declare the trust must comply with the new policy.
Trust Chair Tricia Everest said she didn’t know about the lawsuit until reporters surprised her with the news Friday. She said the trust hasn’t had a chance to decide its position on the county’s mandate to cooperate with ICE.
Late last month, the trust voted to remove an ICE agent from the jail, but the vote failed over a technicality.
Everest said she will wait and see what the court decides.
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