OUR MISSION
Southern Missouri Immigration Alliance (SMIA) is dedicated to advancing immigrant justice across Missouri by raising public awareness, dismantling harmful policies, and offering direct support to immigrant communities. Our initial campaign is focused on ending the ICE contract at the Greene County Jail through organizing and advocacy, but our work extends beyond this single issue. SMIA seeks to strengthen rapid response networks, expand access to legal and language resources, build leadership within communities, and lay the groundwork for policy reform within the state that promotes dignity, safety, and belonging for all immigrants.
Facts that Matter
- GCJ has 375 beds reserved specifically for people being detained for ICE. The jail has 1242 beds so people detained for ICE could make up about 25% of the GCJ population. GCJ also has the option to expand to another 672 cells with their architect J.E.Dunn Construction Company.
- ICE is using federal funds (your tax dollars) to pay GCJ $100 per day per person detained for ICE. If GCJ averages 250 people detained for ICE daily, that would be $25k in tax dollars every single day, would total over $9 million tax dollars in a single year, and that’s just one facility here in Greene County.
- Less than 4% of the people held for ICE in GCJ since May 14th, 2025 have a charge of any kind listed; Most of those charges are minor traffic violations.
- The contract GCJ has with ICE is actually part of a broader Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with the US Marshall’s Service to detain federal inmates. ICE can be removed from this IGA by Sheriff Arnott at any time, as there is no specified end date in the IGA language.
- Sheriff Arnott only won his 2024 election with 22,380 votes. The United States Census Bureau estimated that the population of Greene County Missouri was about 307,942 in 2024. This equates to about 7.27% of the Greene County population that actually voted for him. The next Sheriff election is in 2028.
