Ogden City Council members press for review, inspections of ICE office in the city

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Two Ogden City Council members will seek code inspections of a local ICE office given concerns about its operations.
They also say charges the office has violated its conditional use permit with Ogden merit further review.
A rep of Mayor Ben Nadolski, on the other hand, says ICE seems to be in full compliance with its permit.

OGDEN — Amid backlash from some over the presence of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Ogden, two Ogden City Council members say they'll press for inspections of the site to make sure the location complies with city codes.

Following a long stream of critical comments directed at the site from the public at Tuesday's Ogden City Council meeting, the officials also broached the idea of holding a special meeting so they can discuss concerns that have been raised about the office.

The debate comes amid the ongoing crackdown on illegal immigrants in the country, spearheaded by ICE at the direction of the administration of President Donald Trump, and concerns of some the agency is going too far.

"So what are we doing as a council? We are oversight. We are the legislative branch," said Councilwoman Alicia Washington, who pushed hardest to continue the debate, possibly to take place next week. The body has the power, she said, to continue discussion on charges that ICE has violated terms of its conditional use permit with Ogden to operate at the site at 2487 S. 1620 West.

Councilman Kevin Lundell also said the topic merits continued attention from the administration of Mayor Ben Nadolski. Tapping public data, members of a coalition of Ogden area residents critical of ICE activity charge that the office has operated outside permitted hours at times and held detainees overnight on 18 occasions, violating terms of the conditional use permit. Nadolski's office has countered the charges.

If the charges are true, "I believe we need more of an explanation from the administration about how, because the data did show us pretty distinctly that there were violations," Lundell said. "There needs to be some follow-up, I believe, with the administration with regard to that."

In response to charges by critics of the ICE presence who say they've seen what they think is flammable foam padding in the ICE office, Lundell said he's sent a request to Nadolski's office to send Ogden fire officials to inspect the site. Washington said she'd ask the administration to send a city health inspector to the site to make sure it complies with city health codes since the facility serves as a processing center for ICE detainees.

'Excited about ICE'

Lundell and Washington were most outspoken on the issue among the city officials. The two council members had pursued a resolution meant as a show of support for the immigrant community amid the ICE crackdown before dropping it earlier this month.

Councilman Ken Richey, by contrast, acknowledged the passion of those speaking at Tuesday's meeting, who variously criticized what they view as ICE overreach and defended the immigrant population. But he also said he's heard from many people who are "excited about ICE" and noted the importance of abiding by the law.

"We can't tell ICE that you can't operate in Ogden. We can't tell ICE that you can't enforce the laws that they're doing. As a city, we're doing what we can do," he said.

Nadolski didn't attend Tuesday's meeting, but Mara Brown, chief administrative officer for the mayor, read a statement spurred by the charges against the ICE office.

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The charges against the Ogden ICE office based on public data posted online "have not been substantiated by verified data," Brown said. ICE representatives told city officials that detainees are not held overnight, but rather are sent to county jails for overnight stays.

"At this time, it appears that ICE is in full compliance with the conditional use permit that was issued 26 years ago," she said.

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