Erie County's deportation price tag: $37 million

Sandusky is asking the world to send us workers while Erie County taxpayers send Washington millions of dollars to build a deportation machine. For a tourism capital whose summer economy depends on international employees, that contradiction is not abstract. It is economic self-sabotage. The Greater Sandusky Partnership recently reported that the Sandusky metro ranked third among 393 U.S. metropolitan areas for employment growth during the first half of 2026, adding 1,483 jobs. Yet the Census Bureau estimates that Sandusky's population has fallen 4.5% since 2020, to about 24,000. Jobs are growing while the pool of residents is shrinking — an equation that cannot work for long. This region already knows part of the answer. Every summer, young people from around the world arrive to work at Cedar Point, hotels, restaurants and attractions. The Register has reported that Cedar Point's go-to seasonal employment tool has been the J-1 visa program to hire help from around the world. These international students are here legally, pay taxes, spend money and help turn summer demand into operating rides, occupied hotel rooms and restaurant checks. Now Washington is sending the opposite message — and billing us for it. The Economic Policy Institute's new cost-of-deportations calculator estimates that Erie County taxpayers will contribute about $37 million toward the $268.9 billion committed to mass deportation and detention through fiscal 2029. That is money earned here and committed to a strategy that can shrink the workforce on which local growth depends. Let's be precise: J-1 workers are lawful visitors, and no one should suggest otherwise. Nor should dangerous criminals be shielded from removal. But this dragnet is not confined to violent offenders. As of July 11, TRAC found that 70.6% of people in ICE detention had no criminal conviction. Falling out of immigration status or overstaying a visa is generally a civil violation, not proof that someone is a gang member or public-safety threat. Sandusky has seen the machinery up close. Last October, the Register reported that witnesses estimated around 70 people were detained in a single Border Patrol operation in Perkins Township, while federal authorities provided few details. Enforcement on that scale sends a message through families, employers and the international networks on which seasonal recruitment depends. A government cannot make immigrants fear stores, roads and worksites, then expect foreign students and their parents to hear a warm invitation from Vacationland. Lawful seasonal workers are not deportation targets, but they do not live in an information vacuum. They see raids, visa instability and people with pending cases placed in detention, and they have other countries and employers to choose from. Sandusky should be doing the opposite: pairing targeted enforcement against genuine threats with due process, dependable J-1 and H-2B pathways, and a campaign to turn positive summer experiences into long-term connections. Today's ride operator could become tomorrow's student, entrepreneur or ambassador who sends other workers and visitors here. Ohio's congressional delegation should demand that federal enforcement focus on genuine public-safety threats rather than finance a strategy that weakens Ohio communities. Protect public safety, yes, but stop spending billions to detain people without convictions and broadcast that America would rather be smaller. Sandusky's employers are adding jobs; federal policy should help the region add people, not make Erie County pay $37 million to chase them away. Richard T. Herman has practiced immigration law in Ohio for more than 30 years and divides his time between Cleveland and Vermilion. He co-founded Global Cleveland and co-authored Immigrant, Inc.