Public commenter warns DOJ jail grant could expand immigration detention

Kirk Crabtree, a Manhattan resident speaking during public comment, urged the Riley County Commission to reconsider approval for the Riley County Police Department to pursue a Department of Justice grant he quoted in full as “Bridging Immigration Related Deficits Experienced Nationwide.” He said the deputy director’s presentation to the commission had emphasized potential funding benefits — including an assertion that the community could receive “up to $31 million” for jail and RCPD upgrades — but had not read the grant’s full statutory language as he understood it.

Crabtree said the grant language, as he described it, repeatedly referenced “criminal illegal aliens” and included program goals to “increase capacity to carry out location, apprehension, detention, investigation, prosecution, and enforcement activities related to criminal legal aliens.” He told commissioners that, if the county accepted and used funds consistent with those provisions, it could “force our jail to become an immigration detention facility” and obligate local sworn officers to perform immigration-apprehension duties.

The transcript records Crabtree citing counts of specific phrases in the grant document (for example, he stated that the phrase “criminal illegal aliens” appears 20 times in the 21‑page explanation) to support his concerns; the deputy director’s earlier presentation and county staff remarks about the grant were referenced but not quoted in the transcript. The commission had previously voted to allow RCPD to pursue the grant at a July 13 meeting; Crabtree urged the body to consider the grant’s stated enforcement objectives before moving forward.

No county official replied to Crabtree’s detailed counts and textual claims on the record during the same public‑comment period. The commission did not take a new vote at this meeting; the matter remained in the discussion and application phase as of this session.