GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Four people who were arrested during a protest at the Kent County Sheriff's Office have been found guilty of trespassing.
At 61st District Court in Grand Rapids on Friday, a jury delivered the verdict after more than an hour of deliberation in the one-day trial.
The defendants — John Haines, Cynthia Lanning-Burch, Sharon Hickox and Jeffrey Smith — now face up to 30 days in jail or a fine.
On January 5, 2026, the four were part of a group who gathered at the Kent County Sheriff's Office (KCSO) to protest the office's policies related to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including the practice of allowing ICE to request holds on detainees at the county jail.
The protesters were members of either GR Rapid Response to ICE or Movimiento Cosecha Grand Rapids, two local groups who advocate for undocumented immigrants in the face of deportation.
After 4:00 p.m. that day, according to testimony, the group entered the lobby of the Kent County Sheriff's Office on Ball Avenue, read a prepared statement, and began to chant.
They also asked to speak with Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young, who was on vacation at the time.
When the sheriff's office closed at 5:00 p.m., according to testimony, Kent County Undersheriff Bryan Muir told protesters that if they did not leave the facility within five minutes, they would be arrested and cited for trespassing.
"I just wanted to try to find a way we could handle this peacefully without an arrest," Muir testified on Friday. "This isn't the way we do this. If you want to come meet with us, come meet with us. We're willing to listen to your cause."
Two other law enforcement officers with KCSO also took the stand in the trial, including Lt. Joshua Thomas, who said he "attempted to speak" with protesters.
"I understand why they're there and what they're doing," he said. "I was just trying to reason [with them]."
While the majority of protesters left upon receiving Muir's verbal warning, five remained.
Five minutes later, they were arrested.
While one of the five pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge, the four others took their cases to trial.
"I don’t think there should be a time that my First Amendment rights end," defendant Sharon Hickox said from the stand.
When asked if she would again protest to the point of arrest, Hickox said, "To protect people and to protect my neighbor? Absolutely."
"The intent was to talk to the sheriff, to voice the concerns and to get something going," defendant John Haines added. "We were prepared to be arrested because we wanted to petition an elected official, and we had tried earlier and couldn't get anywhere."
Conversely, the prosecution called the case "simple."
"This is simply trespassing," the prosecution said in its closing argument. "The First Amendment is not an absolute right to break the law. There are places, times, and manner restrictions that are appropriate to put on the citizens' right to protest or to speak their voice. In this particular case, that restriction was 5:00 p.m."
As part of a statement sent to FOX 17, the Kent County Sheriff's Office said it "fully supports every person’s constitutional right to peacefully assemble and express their views."
"As previously stated, deputies made repeated efforts to gain voluntary compliance before taking enforcement action. The charges concern alleged conduct, including remaining after repeated directions to leave and disrupting Sheriff’s Office operations, not the viewpoint or message being expressed."
KCSO also said it "does not initiate civil immigration enforcement or arrest or book anyone solely because of immigration status."
When a detainee enters the Kent County Correctional Facility on state or local charges, KCSO says their fingerprints are processed and input into systems that are accessible to state and federal law enforcement agencies, including ICE.
Through these systems, according to the Department of Homeland Security, ICE may be able to see if a correctional facility has a detainee that is removable from the country due to their immigration status, and may also ask for that detainee to be held at the facility for pickup, potentially for deportation.
The hold — referred to as an immigration or ICE detainer — lasts for no more than 48 hours past a detainee's scheduled release time.
"Any subsequent ICE detainer or custody request is reviewed and handled under applicable law and established policy, consistent with our commitment to public safety, due process, and fair and impartial enforcement," KCSO said as part of its statement.
Gema Lowe, a community organizer with Movimiento Cosecha, attended Friday's trial and said she felt disappointed by the guilty verdict.
"I think the defense did a good job, but I think the only guilt that the defendants have is to be standing in solidarity with my community," she said. "The only guilt they are responsible for is to be at the office, at the sheriff's office, asking for their policy."
Lowe also expressed her frustration over what she described as a lack of transparency.
"We wanted to know — or they wanted to know as the defendants — what was the policy?"
