COLUMBUS, Ohio — Democratic candidate for Ohio governor Dr. Amy Acton is breaking from her party to support local police in working with federal immigration enforcement. This comes as Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy raises concerns about mass surveillance due to Flock cameras.
"It's an honor to fight for the people who are first responders," Acton said at a news conference Tuesday.
She had just been endorsed by the Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, a police union representing about 8,000 officers.
Now, Acton is breaking from her colleagues.
"We always work with the federal law enforcement, and we will do so — whatever it takes to keep Ohioans safe," Acton said.
Unlike other liberal leaders, she said she wouldn’t prevent local law enforcement from helping out with immigration raids. However, she expects ICE to follow laws.
"We need to hold anyone who comes to our state to the same standards of professionalism that we expect of our public safety officers, and I will always fight for that," she said.
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ICE has been utilizing Flock Safety cameras amid growing distrust over privacy concerns. The devices are typically, and supposed to be, used as license plate readers. Some Ohioans have chopped the cameras down.
"I absolutely know that we have had, as Governor DeWine said, many crimes solved due to the use of technology," Acton said. "When I come in, we'll be doing a very comprehensive overview of all our public safety and emergency response."
But Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy warns the tech could lead to government overreach.
"I do not want to see an authoritarian surveillance state that ultimately threatens what this country was built on," Ramaswamy said during a local county fair event.
He said he shares the same concerns as worried citizens.
"If the government is able to, and does, map out every movement you make, we're ultimately living eventually; it's not there now, but eventually — you skate to where the puck is going," Ramaswamy continued. "It's not hard to imagine a Chinese-style surveillance state."
But when it came to working with ICE, he went further than Acton. The Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio, which has 23,000 members, has endorsed him.
"Our cities are no longer going to get away with being so-called sanctuary cities, where even the federal government says that you can't engage in certain illegal behavior, crossing the border illegally," Ramaswamy said during an event in the spring. "Somehow Cincinnati declared itself a sanctuary city. That's wrong."
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Unlike the other two candidates, Libertarian Don Kissick and running mate James Mills oppose both Flock and how ICE is currently operating.
"We should investigate suspects, not surveil entire communities," Mills said Wednesday. "The Fourth Amendment should not become obsolete simply because technology makes mass surveillance easier."
Just because someone doesn't follow the U.S.'s immigration policies doesn't mean they automatically need to be treated like "dangerous criminals," he added.
"I also strongly oppose the way ICE is currently operating and would not use Ohio’s resources to enable indiscriminate enforcement that disregards due process or basic human dignity," Mills added. "While a governor and lieutenant governor cannot rewrite federal immigration law, we can refuse to give federal agencies a blank check to exercise unchecked power in our communities, and we can speak out against executive overreach regardless of which party controls Washington."
Enforcement on immigration crimes should be proportional, constitutional and humane, the Libertarian said.
"Just because someone is undocumented doesn’t mean we should treat them with any less dignity," he added.
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