Butler County Sheriff’s duties, outstanding warrants raise questions on ICE feasibility
The more than 1,400 warrants the Butler County Sheriff’s Office has yet to serve aren’t a barrier to working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Sheriff Mike Slupe said recently following questions raised about his agreement with ICE.
Slupe said in a recent interview that he’s confident in his office’s ability to juggle the potential new task of assisting with the detainment of people who are suspected of entering the country illegally, but others — including county Commissioner Kevin Boozel — have questioned how effectively the office will be able to stretch its resources for this purpose.
“The duties of the sheriff are quite a few already,” Boozel said in a July 17 interview.
The number of outstanding warrants was a point of contention during a public comment period of the July 23 Butler County commissioners meeting after residents learned of Slupe’s decision to approve an agreement to work with ICE. He did not seek approval of the agreement from county commissioners.
Multiple people had addressed the then 1,800 outstanding warrants at the July meeting after Boozel referenced them in a July 10 Facebook post.
Slupe said the office has chipped away at warrants since then and had 1,431 outstanding as of Tuesday, Aug. 12.
“The county bench warrants will take priority,” Slupe said in a July 17 interview.
Slupe said to explain the outstanding warrants, he provided the commissioners with data over the span of a year showing the number of medical appointments for inmates, to which at least two deputies must accompany an inmate.
“One of the reasons we can’t keep up (with warrants) is the inmate population is sick (and) have appointments during the month, which tied up resources at the office,” Slupe said.
Slupe said most days, deputies must accompany two to three inmates to various health appointments, plus they watch inpatient inmates at the hospital. This requires 24-hour monitoring, he explained.
The salary board approved the hiring of two additional deputies in response to his plea, bringing the total number of deputies to 35. Slupe said once the new deputies are trained, he will assign two each day specifically to investigating and serving warrants.
“My point was, we have to (serve the warrants), I get it, but we need more people,” Slupe said.
Inmate transport, including to and from appointments at Butler Memorial Hospital, is one of the Sheriff Office’s expressed responsibilities under Pennsylvania law. The sheriff also transports inmates to and from court after they have been charged with a crime.
Inmate transport, serving bench warrants and protecting courtrooms are only part of the sheriff’s duties outlined in state law. Other duties include conducting sheriff sales, enforcing protection from abuse orders and issuing gun permits.
“There are core duties of the sheriff, but that does not limit the sheriff to what he or she does,” Slupe said.
The sheriff also decides what community outreach program its office facilitates. The Sheriff’s Office organizes a Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or D.A.R.E., program with $5,000 allocated for supplies in the department’s budget.
Sheriff’s deputies can make arrests if they see a crime occur, but not as a result of an investigation, Slupe said.
Slupe intends to have 12 of his 35 deputies complete mandatory online training to receive ICE orders. The training is yet to begin.
The sheriff’s budget includes $50,000 allocated toward fuel costs and $60,000 toward equipment rental and maintenance. The office’s total allocated expenditures and revenue for 2025 are $3,510,659 and $557,750, respectively.
The budget also includes $30,000 for prisoner transport costs and $25,000 for vehicle maintenance.
Slupe has said the agreement with ICE will not affect the office’s budget, and no overtime, fuel or maintenance costs will be accrued beyond the budgeted amount.
“He can’t take additional resources from taxpayers without running it through a meeting,” Boozel said. “We are fiscally and contractually responsible as the commissioners.”
Slupe and the county commissioners have said they do not know the estimated size of the undocumented immigrant population in Butler County. The U.S. Census Bureau includes undocumented immigrants in its population counts but does not distinguish them from the documented population.
“If we come across zero, it’s all good,” Slupe said. “If we come across one, we’ll do our job.”
Slupe added ICE will not provide a general list of immigration detainers, like the office does for outstanding warrants, and he can deny requests to work with ICE.
“Our hope is we get illegal people off the street and let ICE deal with them,” Slupe said.
If the sheriff’s office is sued while conducting ICE investigations, it can request to be represented by the U.S. Department of Justice, according to the agreement. Slupe said qualified immunity further protects government officials from liability, but Boozel doubts the county’s insurance through the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania will cover the agreement.
Boozel said the commissioners would need to pass a resolution in support of the agreement for it to be covered. He said it’s not covered currently because it was not approved by the contracting party — the county commissioners. The ICE agreement has never been on the agenda for a Butler County commissioners meeting.
Boozel said he was told by a representative of the commissioners association that “coverage will not be afforded to anyone that doesn’t fit within the definition of covered party.”
Slupe disagreed and said the commissioners association insurance covers ICE-related enforcement. Multiple attempts to clarify with the commissioners association were unsuccessful.
“If illegal people know that our county is going to detain and arrest you if you’re found in our county, maybe they won’t come to our county,” Slupe said.
