An interfaith vigil was held at Payne Chapel AME Church in Hamilton with prayer and song for immigrants, particularly those held in ICE custody, drawing a former hospital chaplain who spent more than two months locked up at the Butler County Jail just over a year ago. Imam Ayman Soliman told the crowd his release still ranks among the happiest moments of his life, and that the letters he received while detained became his lifeline.
The vigil was hosted by three organizations working on immigrant rights in the region, according to WKRC: Butler County for Immigrant Justice, Oxford Citizens for Peace & Justice, and the Coalition of Concerned Citizens. Faith leaders spoke in support of the immigrant community while attendees sang and prayed inside the church, the station reports. Soliman's appearance marked his 62nd public event since his release, more than a year after he left the jail.
A Detention That Nearly Cost Everything
Soliman came to the United States from Egypt in 2014 seeking asylum and was granted that status in 2018, per the station's report. He was working as a chaplain for Cincinnati Children's Hospital when he was detained at the Butler County Jail in July 2025, after attending what was supposed to be a routine check-in with the Department of Homeland Security. Soliman says he was held there for 73 days, though the Ohio Capital Journal has separately reported his stay lasted 72 days; the discrepancy remains unresolved between the two accounts.
He told the gathering that being deported to Egypt would have meant death for him. Soliman said he experienced unlawful detention and a loss of his rights to justice, due process and life, and credited his own community's organizing, prayers and advocacy with helping him regain his asylum status. Hundreds of supporters had called for his release during his detention, the station notes.
Life After Release
Soliman said he did not meet the worst of the worst while detained, and that many of the people held alongside him loved the United States and were angry at its government, not its people. He now works with the hospice team at TriHealth, continuing to offer prayer to those in need, and has said he feels a moral obligation to keep speaking against injustice. Justice, he said, is a pillar in every religion, and faith communities should stand for vulnerable people.
Organizers Push To End County's ICE Contract
Steve Holmquist, an organizer with Butler County for Immigrant Justice, said the vigil offered fellowship and demonstrated faith, compassion and love for all people, and that organizers scheduled it ahead of the holidays. His group has been working since 2024 to end Butler County's contract with ICE, which allows the county jail to house ICE detainees, and has attended multiple county commission meetings urging the sheriff's office to end the 287(g) agreement. Holmquist said the group will continue its efforts and believes local residents can petition government officials for change.
The push comes as 287(g) partnerships have expanded sharply across the region. Immigration arrests in Hamilton more than quadrupled in 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, with nearly all of those arrests tied to 287(g) agreements, according to The Marshall Project. Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones has said he expects the arrangement to generate $20 million in revenue in 2026.
A Wider National Shift
Ohio had 20 law enforcement agencies participating in 287(g) agreements as of the Marshall Project's reporting, compared with 130 in Missouri — a sharp jump for both states, which in 2024 had no local police agencies enforcing immigration law for ICE at all. Nationally, state and local officers deputized by ICE more than doubled in the eight months before October, per a report cited by WVXU, with more than 29,000 officers deputized between January 2025 and October 2026 — nearly three times the roughly 11,600 deportation officers directly employed by ICE. Florida and Texas agencies alone accounted for about half of the more than 47,000 immigration arrests made nationally through the program between January 2025 and August 2026.
Vigils like the one at Payne Chapel have become a recurring response across the state. Spectrum News 1 reported that Ohioans gathered earlier this year to oppose the state's six ICE detention centers, including at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown, with organizers saying they planned to keep protesting until the matters were resolved. A demonstration tied to Soliman's own case drew roughly 100 people who marched from a vigil across the John A. Roebling Bridge into Kentucky in July 2025, where the Covington Police Department arrested 15 people, including journalists, according to the Ohio Capital Journal.
For now, Soliman's message in Hamilton centered less on policy mechanics than on faith and persistence. He has told supporters his community's prayers and advocacy helped bring him home, and he continues showing up at events like this one to ask faith communities to keep standing for people still caught in the system he once lived through.
