Ice ICE

For years we've wondered aloud why the U.S. Border Patrol would need a $30 million headquarters in Marblehead. For years we've wondered why the federal government spends millions annually arming a small army of Border Patrol agents along the shores of Lake Erie. For years we've asked for accountability from those agencies, to no avail.We're not taking any stand suggesting the Border Patrol or ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, be dismantled. We are demanding our federal representatives — U.S. representatives Marcy Kaptur and Jim Jordan, and U.S. senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman — take a stand and demand accountability from those agencies.We make the same call to state Sen. Randy Gardner and state Rep. Steve Arndt. Reform is needed to require federal agencies abide by state law, including keeping the public fully informed of its work, in detail, on the record.Law enforcement agencies in Ohio are subject to state law, which means they are required to document their operations and meet standards of accountability. The state's public records law and the administrative code have been developed over time to protect all Ohioans.But federal agencies don't act on behalf of Ohioans and they don't operate within the scope of state law. They are not answerable to residents; they're answerable to a bureaucracy that stretches clear to the White House and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.As more than 100 migrant farm workers arrested during raids by Border Patrol and ICE agents in June continue to be processed through the system, the government's refusal to be transparent during the proceedings diminishes the confidence we want to have in them. It diminishes their credibility, greatly. Allowing any agency, of any type, free reign without boundaries is never a good idea.Our state and federal lawmakers should demand a baseline of accountability for these federal agencies. Why should Ohioans, or any other state subjected to a federal law enforcement presence, settle for anything less? State officials should demand our right to know and demand the federal government develop a hierarchy of accountability that serves the public and the common good.