The cost of keeping illegal immigrants in prison and providing them with medical care exceeded $250 million last year in Texas, according to state health and corrections officials. The testimony before the House State Affairs Committee on Wednesday came as lawmakers faced a projected state budget shortfall of up to $18 billion. News from the Bloomberg Business Week.

“We want to focus on what the real costs are for state services,” said Rep. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, the committee chairman. “There’s really not a lot of wholly accurate data.”

Jerry McGinty, the Texas Department of Corrections’ chief financial officer, said state prisons held 11,766 offenders who are foreign citizens in July. He said it costs the state about $171 million per year to hold them, although the federal government reimburses about 10 percent of that total.

Rick Allgeyer, director of research for the Health and Human Services Commission, said illegal immigrant health care – mostly emergency hospital care – cost the state nearly $100 million last year.

Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville, said an Arizona-type law allowing police to question anyone they stop about their citizenship status could fill every county jail in Texas. “It would bust all our counties,” said Oliveira.

Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, told fellow committee members that when making policy, “you always have to be aware of unintended consequences.”

Gallego said there could be significant effects if law enforcement and other public agencies were asked to reallocate already-sparse resources to check citizenship of people in Texas.

jchev Economic Issues, Illegal Aliens, Inmate Health Care, Texas

Arizona’s new immigration law has been roundly criticized for encroaching on the federal government’s authority to enforce immigration laws. It requires police to demand documentation from an individual when they have a “reasonable suspicion” that a person is here illegally. Arizona’s own police chiefs association opposes this entanglement of state law enforcement with federal immigration policy on the grounds that it will undermine the public’s trust in local officials. News from the Wall Street Journal.

Arizona isn’t alone in involving local officials in federal immigration policy to an unwarranted degree. Federal immigration officials are active in 300 local jails and nearly every state prison in the country as part of the Criminal Alien Program, which is designed to identify potentially deportable inmates.

Although the precise method of operation of the program varies across communities, the basic strategy remains the same: Federal immigration officials are allowed access to information about foreign-born inmates in local jails, either through in-person interviews with inmates or through access to local databases. This allows them to quickly identify inmates eligible for removal. Strikingly, 48% of all deportable immigrants identified by U.S. immigration officials in 2009 were discovered as a result of this program, according to an October 2009 report issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Even New York City, which has long had a reputation as a welcoming place for immigrants, works with federal immigration officials, providing them with direct access to the Department of Corrections’ database that contains information on foreign-born arrestees housed in city jails. Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials maintain an office of 15 agents at the city’s largest jail, Rikers Island, where they routinely interview newly booked inmates. In 2007, ICE officers interviewed approximately 4,000 Rikers inmates. Once ICE officers identify potentially deportable inmates, they issue an immigration “detainer”—an official request that local officials notify ICE prior to releasing an inmate so that the inmate can be transferred into ICE custody for potential deportation.

In 2007 alone, ICE initiated deportation proceedings against 3,212 inmates being held at Rikers. Some 13,000 Rikers inmates have been identified by ICE as potentially removable since 2004. This includes not just undocumented immigrants but lawful, permanent residents and those with valid claims to remain here.

The close relationship between ICE and the Department of Corrections drastically alters the normal course of operations at New York City’s jails. Typically arrestees remain in jail until the city relinquishes custody, which can happen for a number of reasons: the inmate is released on his or her own recognizance; the inmate posts bail; the charges against the inmate are dropped; or there has been a finding of guilt or innocence. However, an inmate subject to a detainer is held in jail by the Department of Corrections for 48 hours past this date—even in the case of dismissed charges or an acquittal—to give federal immigration officials an opportunity to assume custody of the individual.

The city bears most of the expense of holding the inmate for the 48 hours. The issuance of immigration detainers also discourages inmates from posting bail, even when they can afford to do so, because inmates subject to detainers who succeed in posting bail are transferred directly into federal immigration custody. Thus the city also bears the expense of housing those inmates who would otherwise be out on bail. This costs the city at least $150 per inmate per day according to the Department of Corrections.

The New York City Bar Association has also argued that the use of immigration detainers lowers the rate of participation in the city’s alternative-to-incarceration programs because judges and prosecutors are quick to assume that immigrants subject to detainers are ineligible for such programs. These alternative programs reduce recidivism and lower costs to the criminal justice system.

But by far the most severe consequence of the city’s cooperation with federal immigration officials is the lack of trust in law enforcement that it creates among the public. A spouse, for example, may be reluctant to report abuse if she fears that the consequence will be deportation of the father of her children. When immigrants perceive the local police force as merely an arm of the federal immigration authority, they become reluctant to report criminal activity for fear of being turned over to federal officials. Given that immigrants (legal and illegal) currently comprise 36% of the city’s population, this unwillingness to cooperate with local law enforcement presents an obstacle to stemming crime in the city as a whole. That’s why during the 35 years I was district attorney in Manhattan, I made it a policy never to turn over names of individuals involved with the criminal justice system to immigration authorities until after they were convicted of a serious crime.

Charges are ultimately dropped against a significant percentage of arrestees in the city’s jails. In 2009, for example, charges were eventually dismissed in 34% of all cases arraigned in criminal court in New York City. Federal law provides that lawful permanent residents with green cards can be deported if they are convicted of certain offenses—including aggravated felonies and the vast majority of controlled substance offenses. But in New York City, ICE officials have access to foreign-born inmates from the moment they are booked into the city’s jails, regardless of whether charges might later be dropped. This early involvement of federal officials is unwarranted and imposes considerable costs monetarily and in terms of public perception.

No one disputes that the names of violent offenders should be turned over to federal immigration officials, but the current approach treats those charged with petty offenses (and those who may not be guilty of any crime) in the same manner as convicted felons.

A more nuanced approach to cooperation between local authorities and federal immigration officials—in which only the names of those convicted of violent crimes were turned over to ICE—would avoid this problem. It would go a long way towards separating the roles of local police and federal immigration authorities in the eyes of the public, and would encourage more inmates to post bail, thus reducing costs to the city. New York authorities should make clear they do not approve of the haphazard and sometimes cruel way that federal immigration policy is enforced.

jchev Illegal Aliens, United States

A nationwide program that allows local law enforcement agencies to perform some immigration duties has numerous shortcomings, according to a new report.The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department is one of about 70 communities participating in the 287(g) program, which allows local officials to screen jail inmates to see if they are in the country illegally. Reported in the San Bernardino Sun. Complete report available from the DHS.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General issued a report last week, stating the program is poorly managed and supervised, lacks strict guidelines for implementation and fails to adequately train local officials about immigration law.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which partners with local agencies on the program, is not focusing its efforts on identifying criminal immigrants who pose the greatest risk to the public, the report says.

“The report only confirms what we have been saying all along: Counties and cities have no business enforcing immigration law,” said Emilio Amaya, director of the San Bernardino Community Service Center, a nonprofit immigrant assistance organization.

“In San Bernardino and Riverside counties, most of the people we see going through the 287(g) process are not the hardcore criminals we should be investing our resources in,” Amaya said.

ICE officials say the agency has made significant progress in addressing the issues raised in the report.

Since the inspector general’s review was conducted, the agency said it has taken steps to fulfill many of the report’s recommendations.”The Office of Inspector General report does not reflect the current 287(g) program,” ICE said in a statement. “Since the audit was conducted, ICE has fundamentally reformed the 287(g) program, strengthening public safety and ensuring consistency in immigration enforcement across the country by prioritizing the arrest and detention of criminal aliens.”

The San Bernardino County of Supervisors approved an agreement with ICE in 2005 and renewed it for another three years in November.

Under the program, nine sheriff’s custody specialists trained by ICE screen inmates booked into county jails to determine their immigration status. The Sheriff’s Department places a hold on inmates identified as illegal immigrants so they cannot be released from jail.

After serving their jail or prison sentence, the inmates are turned over to ICE for possible deportation.

Since 2006, the program has identified 9,461 foreign nationals in the county as potentially deportable, according to ICE.

Deputy Chief Bob Fonzi said he wasn’t familiar with the details of the report. But he didn’t believe many of the concerns apply to San Bernardino County.

“We don’t do interior enforcement,” Fonzi said. “We don’t arrest or allow other police agencies in San Bernardino County to arrest someone on strictly an immigration violation. They must have committed some crime.”

Supervisor Neil Derry dismissed the criticism of the report. He said there is no such thing as a minor offense when an illegal immigrant breaks the law in this country.

“Once it comes to the federal government’s attention that they are here illegally, they should be deported regardless of the crime they are accused of committing,” Derry said. “Immigration laws need to be enforced routinely and fairly and they need to be enforced across the board.”

Local members of Congress had differing views on the report.

Rep. Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino, said in a statement that the Department of Homeland Security should “seriously consider scrapping the flawed 287(g) program.”

Many reports have connected the program to civil rights violations, including racial and ethnic profiling, Baca said.

The program also diverts scarce resources from the core public safety mission of local police, he added.

Fonzi said the Sheriff’s Department works very hard not to engage in racial profiling.

“The bulk of our detainees are from Mexico, but it’s because of our geographic relationship, not because we are identifying any racial or ethnic background or group,” Fonzi said. “We’re very sensitive to that and we’re very careful.”

Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea, said the program has resulted in the deportation of about 60,000 illegal immigrants since 2006.

“I’m sure you can find minor flaws with any government program,” said Miller, whose district includes Chino and Chino Hills. “Is the overall benefit worthy of the program? From what I see, it absolutely is.”

jchev CA San Bernardino County, Illegal Aliens, United States

A board that oversees vocational training and work programs in California prisons has voted to stop allowing undocumented immigrant inmates set for deportation to participate. News reported in the Sacramento Bee.

California Prisons Industry Authority spokesman Tom Collins said the aim of the Prison Industry Board action Thursday is to “ensure that the effective vocational training that CalPIA provides is first applied to inmates who will return to California’s communities following their parole, rather than training individuals who will not.”

The certification program, established in its current form in 1982, provides training and jobs in the manufacturing and agricultural industries for inmates in 22 prisons across the state.

Approximately 427 of the 5,700 inmates now participating are under an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold and will be deported once their sentence is completed. Fifty-two of the 727 inmate workers enrolled in certification programs are also under an ICE hold, according to a staff report recommending the change.

Collins said he did not know why inmates with ICE holds were not previously deemed ineligible for the program but that the recommendation for the change came up as the board was exploring options for lowering costs and improving the effectiveness of the program.

Recidivism rates for inmates who participated in the program are significantly lower than inmates who do not – 12 percent of certification program participants paroled in fiscal 2007-2008 reoffend, compared with 42 percent of the general prison population paroled during that time, according to the report.

The report also estimated that limiting the program to inmates eligible for parole in California could translate to fewer inmates reoffending and a savings of $784,000 a year in corrections costs.

“The Board’s action allows CalPIA to focus on what is best for the taxpayers of California,” Collins wrote in an e-mail.

“CalPIA would welcome funds from any government, foreign or otherwise as allowed by law to pay for vocational training of inmates who will subsequently be deported.”

The change takes effect March 1, though undocumented inmate workers now enrolled will be allowed to complete the program.

jchev California, Illegal Aliens, Inmate Programs

A planned overhaul of the immigration detention system might result in fewer concrete cells and lower fences — but it won’t mean more releases, even with electronic ankle monitors, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton said Wednesday.  Report from the AP.

Morton announced last week that his agency would re-evaluate the scattered, 33,400-bed system that holds immigrants awaiting court hearings or deportation. He said it would seek to treat nonviolent people who aren’t a flight risk differently from those with felony convictions facing mandatory detention and deportation.

That raised hopes — and worries — that ICE might reduce the number of incarcerated immigrants by counting electronic ankle-monitoring, house arrest or some other non-institutional confinement as “detention.”  But Morton told The Associated Press on Wednesday that “I don’t think the overall number of detention beds will decrease significantly. It will remain roughly the same.”  The agency will still look at whether alternatives, like electronic monitoring, can be used to ensure immigrants attend court hearings and comply with deportation orders — but will not use them to replace the housing of substantial numbers of people in government-funded facilities, he said.

“That’s incredibly disappointing,” said Andrea Black, coordinator for Detention Watch Network, which represents immigrant advocacy groups. “The changes aren’t going to address the fundamental problem, which is the overemphasis on the use of detention.”  Currently, most detained immigrants, including elderly women, families and asylum seekers, are held in jail-style facilities converted or contracted for ICE use. Morton said such space will still be appropriate for immigrants convicted of serious crimes or others deemed to be dangerous, but many people could be held in facilities that are more like dormitories, with lower exterior fences and fewer restrictions inside.   Some existing ICE facilities could be converted, or new structures specifically designed for ICE may be sought, he said. The overhaul is expected to take several years.  “We detain a whole host of people and they often have different characteristics, and our system needs to recognize that,” Morton said.   ICE detainees face only civil immigration proceedings, not criminal charges, and Morton said the agency needs to recognize its power to hold people is civil in nature — a distinction that immigrant advocates have applauded.

Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said his group, which supports lower immigration, was concerned about Morton’s announcement last week. It wants to ensure that previous policies allowing immigrants released with an order to appear in court — known as “catch and release” rules — aren’t reinstated. Such policies allowed most immigrants to ignore court hearings or deportation, he said. “Everyone concedes that catch-and-release was a complete failure and waste of resources,” he said.  But he said the group does not oppose the use of less jail-like conditions to detain immigrants.  “Our position is that people ought to be held in appropriate facilities, especially where families are concerned. If they have those facilities available, by all means, they should be using them,” Mehlman said.

Morton said last week that the much-derided T. Don Hutto Family Detention Center in Taylor, Texas, would be emptied of families and converted to a women’s facility. The use of the former prison to hold families with young children outraged immigrant advocates, and Black said she and others were pleased Morton decided to end the practice. Morton said Wednesday that families were already being moved out of the facility, and he expects everyone to be out in the next several months “at the most.”

jakking Federal Systems, ICE, Illegal Aliens

Attorney David Kennedy says clients of his who have been held in immigration detention centers in South Georgia and eastern Alabama routinely are denied fundamental rights. On the eve of a new immigration detention center opening in Gainesville GA, a report issued this week by National Immigration Law Center appears to validate Kennedy’s complaints.  Reported by the Gainesville Times.

The report, based on confidential Immigration and Customs Enforcement documents obtained in litigation, alleges there are pervasive problems throughout the country’s immigration detention facilities, many of which are operated by private contractors. Detainees are routinely denied visitation with family members, access to legal materials and regular recreation, according to the report. Many never get an explanation of their rights while being detained, the report claims.  “The conditions are much more harsh than they ought to be,” said the report’s co-author, Ranjana Natarajan. “This is a civil detention, and these folks are being treated like hardened criminals.”

The Corrections Corporation of America could begin boarding immigration detainees at its new North Georgia Detention Center on Main Street as soon as next week. The site of the old county jail adjoining the Hall County Sheriff’s office underwent $4 million in renovations and is being leased from Hall County for $2 million a year. CCA operates the detention center through an agreement with ICE and the county.

This week, ICE officials did not deny the allegations contained in the report, vowing to continue to improve conditions. But Department of Homeland Security officials recently decided against creating uniform detention center standards that the National Immigration Law Center wants. ICE is supposed to conduct yearly evaluations of every detention center, but has no enforceable, binding legal rules on how inmates are treated, according to the report. It creates a lot of gray area,” Natarajan said. “Because (detention centers) are not expected to follow the rules, they’re all over the map.”

ICE spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez said agency officials “feel the NILC put together a very thoughtful report, and we will carefully review and take seriously this report, as we would any report. We are committed to continuously improving our immigration detention system.”  Gonzalez noted that within 10 days of taking office, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano ordered all immigration enforcement policies to undergo a review, “including detention.” In February, Napolitano appointed former Arizona Department of Corrections director Dora Schriro as a special advisor for detention and removal. “Her position was created to focus exclusively on the significant growth in detention and detainment in the last few years,” Gonzalez said.

On any given day, ICE holds about 33,000 immigration detainees in facilities across the country, and supervises another 17,000 people facing deportation through electronic monitoring and other means. The National Immigration Law Center estimates that in 2008 about 220,000 people were held in detention centers prior to deportation. The typical stay is 30 to 90 days.   The Gainesville facility operated by CCA is expected to hold about 500 low- and medium-security immigration detainees, many of them from North Carolina.   CCA spokeswoman Louise Grant referred questions on this week’s report to ICE officials, but noted that “CCA does adhere in every one of our ICE detention facilities to the detention standards set by our customer.” The company also has ICE officials on site for detainee access, Grant said.

This week’s report prompted two U.S. senators to call for a change to the system. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., on Thursday introduced the “Strong Standards Act,” a proposed bill that would set minimum detention standards and require the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that laws concerning the treatment of detainees are enforced.  “These legislative initiatives will help reinforce what our great country has always stood for: liberty, the rule of law and basic human rights,” Menendez said in a statement.  To Kennedy, anything would be an improvement.  “If we’re comparing these (detention centers) to their Turkish counterparts, they’re pretty good,” Kennedy said. “But by U.S. standards, they’re pretty poor.”

jakking Federal Systems, Georgia, ICE, Illegal Aliens

Local officials in the San Diego area have approved the Corrections Corporation of America’s plans for a prison to house more than 2,000 illegal aliens.  Story from the UPI.

The 40-acre site on Otay Mesa is close to a San Diego County prison and to the San Diego Correctional Facility, which Corrections Corp. of America already operates under contract to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. CCA’s plans call for 1,488 beds in the first phase of the new facility and 684 in the second, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Tuesday. The existing immigrant detention center holds 700 people. The county planning commission approved the plans last month, the newspaper said. The existing CCA facility is on land with a lease that expires in 2015. The company has bought the site for the new prison.

jakking CA San Diego County, CCA, ICE, Illegal Aliens, Private Prisons

The Obama administration is expanding immigration checks to nearly all local jails, which could sharply increase U.S. deportation cases, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

By matching inmates’ fingerprints to federal immigration databases, authorities hope to pinpoint deportable illegal immigrants before they are released from custody. Inmates in federal and state prisons already are screened. But authorities generally lack the time and staff to do the same at local jails, which house up to twice as many illegal immigrants at any time and where inmates come and go more quickly. The effort is likely to significantly reshape immigration enforcement, current and former executive branch officials said …

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has made it “very clear” that her top priority is deporting illegal immigrants who have committed crimes, said David J. Venturella, program director at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “We mean this, we’re serious about it, and we believe we need to put in an all-out effort to get this done,” said Rep. David E. Price (D-N.C.), chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee for homeland security …

The program began as a pilot effort in October and operates in 48 counties across the country, including Fairfax County. This year, fingerprints from 1 million local jail bookings will be screened under the program. It also operates Dallas, Houston, Miami, Boston and Phoenix, according to ICE, and will expand to Los Angeles this year and nearly all local jails by the end of 2012. The effort differs from programs in several Northern Virginia counties where local law enforcement officers have been deputized to question suspects about whether they are in the country legally.

Under the new program, the immigration checks will be automatic: Fingerprints currently being run through the FBI’s criminal history database also will be matched against immigration databases maintained by the Department of Homeland Security … Based on the pilot program, the agency estimates that if fingerprints from all 14 million bookings in local jails each year were screened, about 1.4 million “criminal aliens” would be found, Venturella said. That would be about 10 times the 117,000 criminal illegal immigrants ICE deported last year …

Venturella said ICE will give priority to deporting the most dangerous offenders: national security risks or those convicted of violent crimes. Based on initial projections, the agency estimates that 100,000 of these are “Level 1 offenders” and that deporting them would cost $1.1 billion over four years. Removing all criminal illegal immigrants would cost $3 billion, ICE estimated last year.

The long article in The Washington Post has more detail and background.

jakking Federal Payments, Federal Systems, ICE, Illegal Aliens

A bill that could result in swift deportation of illegal aliens currently in Oklahoma state prisons has passed in the state Senate.  Story from News8.

House Bill 2245 passed with a vote of 43 to 0 in the Senate Thursday morning. The bill would create the “Oklahoma Criminal Illegal Alien Rapid Repatriation Act of 2009″.
The act would allow the Oklahoma Department of Corrections to immediately send inmates who are in the country illegally to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation.  The bill applies only to criminals who are in prison for non-violent crimes who have served at least half of their sentence.

“The people of Oklahoma should not have to pay the tab for the federal government’s failures,” said the bill’s author, Randy Terrill after its unanimous passage in the House last month. “The Criminal Illegal Alien Rapid Repatriation Act will shift the financial burden of imprisoning these inmates to the federal government and save the state more than $3 million.”
Terrill says there are currently more than five hundred illegal immigrants in state prisons and that nearly 70-percent of them are eligible for the proposed deportation program.   The state currently pays about 20-thousand dollars per year to house each inmate.

House Bill 2245 now returns to the House for final consideration.

jakking Illegal Aliens, Oklahoma

Some lawmakers still don’t understand why cash-strapped Michigan is keeping foreign criminals behind bars rather than handing them off to the federal government for immediate deportation.  This report from the Lansing State Journal.

Legislation sponsored by state Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith would let state inmates with deportation orders be moved to federal custody after serving at least half their minimum sentence. A House subcommittee is scheduled to vote on the measure Tuesday.”Why should our taxpayers be paying for the care, housing and feeding of prisoners for whom the federal government has papers sending them home?” asked Smith …

Michigan now requires all prisoners to serve their minimum term before being considered for release.  Smith’s bill would relax the law so some immigrant inmates here illegally or whose conviction requires deportation are turned over to federal authorities earlier. Murderers, rapists and habitual offenders couldn’t qualify for an early exit from the country.

The measure has hit resistance from [some] lawmakers who worry that everything from fairness issues to the complexities of immigration law make it unworkable.  Rep. John Proos said it’s unfair to release foreigners early when Americans in the state’s prisons would have to serve longer. “What is the response by the victims and their families who now see justice denied by one-half?” he asked …

As of March, Michigan had 156 inmates with final deportation orders who could be freed immediately to be shipped home by the federal government if Smith’s legislation is approved, her office said. Sixty-six were from Mexico, 17 from Cuba and 11 from Iraq.  Another 55 prisoners potentially could be handed over if a final deportation order is entered. Hundreds of other foreign nationals are serving time for murder or criminal sexual conduct, were sentenced as habitual offenders or haven’t got halfway through their sentence, so they would be ineligible for the switch …

The legislation is modeled after programs in New York, Arizona and – most recently – Rhode Island. The states work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to identify and deport convicts if their offenses are considered nonviolent. The governors of Washington and New Hampshire recently pitched similar plans.ICE says New York has saved $140 million since 1995 through its criminal deportation program. Arizona has saved $18 million in detention costs since 2005. More than 114,000 criminals were removed from the U.S. in the past fiscal year.

jakking Early Release, Economic Issues, ICE, Illegal Aliens, Michigan

Faced with a budget crunch that forced him to lay off deputies, El Paso County CO Sheriff Terry Maketa has tapped a new source of revenue: illegal immigrants.  Report from the Denver Post.

Maketa has started leasing space in his jail to house an average of 150 immigrants a night for federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He also sent 17 jail deputies for training in immigration procedures so they can initiate deportations without waiting for federal agents.  ICE pays $62.40 a night for each detained immigrant, plus mileage for transport in sheriff’s vans. The arrangement pumped $3.6 million into El Paso County over the past year and now provides 10 percent of the jail’s budget.

But Maketa said the money is just one factor driving his broadening alliance with ICE.  “I feel like we’re truly contributing to (solving) a national problem,” said Maketa, one of 67 law enforcement agency chiefs nationwide who have had deputies authorized to enforce federal immigration laws … Several Denver-area sheriffs — annoyed at delays in relying on a limited number of ICE agents to handle possible illegal immigrants in jails — say they’re considering sending deputies for federal ICE training.   There’s support from taxpayers to take the next step” in immigration enforcement, Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink said …

On any given night, most jails in the Denver area and across Colorado hold suspected illegal immigrants. Under state law, jailors must notify ICE and, if ICE is interested and able, the agency places a hold on the inmate. If ICE agents fail to pick up the inmate within 48 hours, the inmate is released when local charges are resolved.  But that raises public safety concerns and is not something the public wants, said Weld County Sheriff John Cooke, who added that he, like other sheriffs, had previously been reluctant to take on an immigration role. “Everybody’s attitude was: ‘That’s the job of the federal government, and we’re not going to do it for them.’ Well, when the federal government isn’t doing their job, the sheriffs get frustrated and the citizens get frustrated,” Cooke said. “We’re going to do the right thing for the citizens of our counties.”

On a recent night in Maketa’s El Paso County jail, more than 200 immigrants from Mexico, Taiwan and elsewhere were incarcerated … [D]eputies immediately start federal deportation proceedings — and start billing ICE for the cost of housing those inmates.  “When county budgets are decreasing, this is a revenue source,” detention bureau chief Paula Presley said …

Denver authorities oppose any increased collaboration with federal agents, beyond the notification all counties must make, under state law, when suspected illegal immigrants are jailed for crimes.  “We don’t help out the IRS either,” said Bill Lovingier, Denver undersheriff and director of corrections. Enforcing the civil offense of being in the country illegally “is a federal responsibility. It’s a federal issue. If they want local help, they should provide us resources. We are already stretched.”   The County Sheriffs of Colorado association remains “quite strongly against doing the feds’ work” on immigration, executive director Don Christensen said. “We feel we can’t get the support from the federal government that we should have. When we do find (illegal immigrants), they don’t come and get them. They fill up our jails and we have to turn them loose,” he said.

A great deal more information and background is available in the article at Denver Post.

jakking CO El Paso County, Economic Issues, ICE, Illegal Aliens

Fifteen years after Congress promised that Washington would help states pick up the tab for imprisoning illegal immigrants convicted of crimes, California is receiving but a fraction — less than 12 cents on the dollar — of its nearly $1-billion annual cost.  Story from the Los Angeles Times.

Officials from states greatly affected by illegal immigration long have argued that their taxpayers should not have to bear the burden for Washington’s failure to control the border.   But Congress this year provided $400 million nationwide to cover the cost of keeping illegal immigrants behind bars, less than what was provided a decade ago …

California officials are stepping up their efforts to snag more money from the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a letter to Washington lawmakers last week that boosting the funding the state receives under the program was his top priority for federal criminal justice funding …

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, when she was Arizona governor, was a leading advocate of boosting the program’s funding, telling Congress last year to “live up to its financial obligation” …

[California] — with about 19,000 illegal immigrants in prisons, or about 11% of the prison population — is projected to receive about $111 million of its $970-million expected cost this year for imprisoning illegal immigrants …

Boosting the funding has been difficult because the program is seen as largely benefiting a handful of states greatly affected by illegal immigration — California, New York, Texas, Florida and Arizona.   Lawmakers from other states say that any increase must be balanced against other spending and the need to reduce the federal deficit. Bush, in seeking to eliminate the appropriation, argued that the funds would be better spent to secure the border.   But other states increasingly are struggling to pay bills for housing illegal immigrants in state prisons and county jails. The Minnesota Department of Corrections, for example, spent about $19 million last year but received only about $1 million from Washington.

jakking California, Federal Payments, Illegal Aliens

An immigration status operation by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Monterey County Jail this weekend revealed that 68 inmates may face deportation after their release, officials said.

The operation was part of ICE’s Criminal Alien Program, a program that identifies criminal aliens who are incarcerated in federal, state and local facilities, ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley said.   Haley said those identified will complete their sentences before they are handed over to ICE for removal proceedings. Haley said some may be eligible to take their case to immigration courts while others will be deported immediately. “This program is to enhance public safety,” Haley said …

Though ICE and the Sheriff’s Office work on these operations, the issue of immigration mainly falls on ICE, said Cmdr. Mike Richards of the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office.

More detail and background in the article at The Californian.

jakking CA Monterey County, California, ICE, Illegal Aliens

At a time when local law enforcement agencies are being forced to cut budgets and freeze hiring, cities across Southern California have found a growing source of income — immigration detention.  This report from the Los Angeles Times.

Roughly two-thirds of the nation’s immigrant detainees are held in local jails, and the payments to cities and counties for housing them have increased as the federal government has cracked down on illegal immigrants with criminal records and outstanding deportation orders.

Washington paid nearly $55.2 million to house detainees at 13 local jails in California in fiscal year 2008, up from $52.6 million the previous year. The U.S. is on track to spend $57 million this year.  The largest federal contract in the state is with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, whose 1,400-bed detention center in Lancaster is dedicated to housing immigrants either awaiting deportation or fighting their cases in court. The department received $34.7 million in 2008, up from $32.3 million the previous year.  Some smaller cities have seen their income rise much faster. Glendale received nearly $260,000 in 2008, triple what it got the previous year. In Alhambra, last year’s $247,000 was more than double the previous year’s payments.

For some cash-strapped cities, the federal money has become a critical source of revenue, covering budget shortfalls and saving positions.  Santa Ana’s Police Department, for example, expects as much as a 15% budget cut and has had a hiring freeze since October that has resulted in more than 60 sworn and civilian positions remaining vacant, Police Chief Paul Walters said. To offset reductions, Walters plans to convert two multipurpose rooms at the 480-bed jail into dormitory rooms this spring. That will accommodate an additional 32 immigrant detainees, which he expects will bring in $1 million more in revenue each year. He also hopes to get approval to raise the nightly price per detainee from $82 to $87.
“We treat [the jail] as a business,” Walters said. “The cuts could have been much deeper if it weren’t for the ability to raise money there” …

The federal contracts cover nearly the entire cost of the jail, said Russell Davis, the jail administrator. On a recent day, the jail housed 20 Santa Ana arrestees, 283 U.S. Marshals prisoners and 165 immigration detainees. Some of the detainees, from Mexico, Vietnam, El Salvador and elsewhere, had landed in immigration custody after serving state prison sentences. Others were arrested after ignoring deportation orders or because of criminal records that made them eligible for deportation.     The contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency brought in more than $3.7 million in 2007 and $4.8 million last year.  If he had to do it all over again, Davis said, he would have built another floor on the jail.

There is a lot more detailed background in the article at the Los Angeles Times.

jakking CA Los Angeles County, California, Economic Issues, Federal Payments, ICE, Illegal Aliens

After being arrested in Bucks County PA, suspects place their hands on an imaging screen that scans their fingerprints into a computer linked to a federal database.  This report from Morning Call.

Within minutes, prison officials can learn the person’s criminal record — whether he is wanted for other crimes and whether he is in the country illegally.  That’s the latest weapon the federal government uses to track people who are illegal immigrants.   The system has been in use in Bucks and Montgomery counties — the only two in Pennsylvania so far — for a couple of months. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to extend that to more than 6,000 local police booking centers and jails nationwide … in about 3 1/2 years, Thomas Decker, director of the ICE Field Office in Philadelphia, said Monday …

Criminals who are in the country illegally will be turned over to ICE for deportation proceedings only after completing their sentence in a county jail.  Bucks District Attorney Michelle Henry said people simply can’t be turned over to ICE before completing prison terms.   ”It’s important to serve whatever sentence that is,” she said …

Township police have arrested about a dozen people who, with the help of ICE, have been identified as being in the country illegally.   Bucks was able to tap into the ICE system because its computer fingerprinting system was in place and needed only upgrades — $30,000-$40,000 worth — to complete the connection, said county Corrections Director Harris Gubernick.

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California will no longer keep illegal immigrants on parole after they serve their sentences and are deported, leaving it to the federal government to prosecute those who sneak back across the border.  Report from the San Jose Mercury News.

The parole policy change announced Monday will save the state an estimated $10 million annually and reduce the crowded prisons’ population by about 1,000 inmates.

About 1,600 deported parolees were caught back in California in 2007, according to the most recent statistics available. Previously, they’d be sent back to state prison for four to eight months for violating their parole.  Under the new policy, the suspects will be turned directly over to federal immigration authorities. They will not be on parole, and therefore could not have their parole revoked and sent back to state prison.

California Corrections Secretary Matthew Cate sent a letter to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Friday informing her of the change.  Cate urged the federal government to charge the ex-convicts with a federal crime that could carry a 10-year federal prison sentence instead of relying on the state to incarcerate the offenders for brief stints.   “Such punishment, not short parole violation terms, is appropriate for these offenders,” Cate said in his letter …

bout 20,000 deportable criminals are serving time in California prisons at an annual cost to the state of $970 million. About 12,000 are on parole. They are not actively supervised by parole agents because they have been deported, but under the old policy they could be charged with parole violations if they were caught back in California … The federal government reimburses California only about 11 cents for every dollar it spends imprisoning illegal immigrants in state prisons, Cate said.

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Criminal Alien Program has led to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants being detained in jails across the country. The program identifies illegal aliens that come through jails and then detains them until their sentences are served, at which time they are deported.  Reporters were invited to Lake County IL Jail to see the work.  This report from the Waukegan News Sun:

With immigration officials flanking them, two men shuffled toward a waiting vehicle at Lake County Jail.   Once inside the low-profile Chevy Trailblazer, the two Mexican nationals were whisked away by immigration officials, possibly never to return to Lake County again.   It’s a scene that has been repeated dozens of times a month at the jail …

Since the program began in September 2007, roughly 260 inmates at the jail have had detainers placed on them. And a majority of them were eventually deported, said Gail Montenegro, a public affairs officer with ICE.  Lake County was praised Tuesday as one of the jails that works well with ICE officials. James McPeek, a field office director from ICE’s Chicago office, said the dedication shown by Sheriff Mark Curran and his staff is vital to the program’s success.

McPeek said Lake County has among the greatest number of detainees for Chicago’s collar counties. According to Curran, 152 of the jail’s 655 inmates are foreign born. And of those 152, roughly 90 percent are illegal aliens … Though all of the men interviewed Tuesday were of Mexican descent, not everyone detained is Hispanic. While the number is much lower, the jail also has illegal European immigrants, said jail chief Jennifer Witherspoon.

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Latino convicts now represent the largest ethnic population in the federal prison system, accounting for 40 percent of those convicted of federal crimes, according to a study released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan research organization.

Nearly half of Latino offenders, or about 48 percent, were convicted of immigration crimes, while drug offenses were the second-most-prevalent charge, according to the report. As the annual number of federal offenders more than doubled from 1991 to 2007, the number of Latino offenders sentenced in a given year nearly quadrupled, to 29,281 from 7,924 …

“The immigration system has essentially become criminalized at a huge cost to the criminal justice system, to courts, to judges, to prisons and prosecutors,” said Lucas Guttentag, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union. “And the government has diverted the resources of the criminal justice system from violent crimes, financial skullduggery and other areas that have been the traditional area of the Justice Department.”

The federal justice system accounts for 200,000, or 8.6 percent, of the 2.3 million inmates in federal and state prisons and city and county jails. Nineteen percent of state prisoners and 16 percent of jail inmates were Latinos, the Pew study found. African-Americans, who make up about 12 percent of the national population, make up 39 percent of state prisoners and jail inmates.

Deborah Williams, an assistant federal defender in Phoenix, said that the large number of Latinos in the federal system, particularly those who are not citizens and have limited English proficiency, had sharply changed federal prison culture. “I have Anglo and Native American clients who tell me about being the only non-Spanish speaker in their pod,” Ms. Williams said. “Ten years ago, it just wasn’t that way.”

The full New York Times article has more information.

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County commissioners on Monday unanimously voted to approve a resolution declaring an intent to finish the second floor of the Delaware County OH Jail.  The Delaware Gazette reports:

The language of the resolution referenced that money for the construction would be raised by renting out space in the jail to house federal prisoners. Delaware County Sheriff Walter L. Davis III said the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) was also interested in paying the county to hold illegal aliens. In addition to finishing the jail, federal dollars would also pay for an additional 12 correctional officers and three school resource officers, he said … U.S. Marshals and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency would provide $65 a day for each one of its prisoners housed at the jail, Davis said. The federal agencies would also cover medical expenses.

Davis said on Monday that the prisoners from the U.S. Marshals would “white-collar, non-violent” criminals. He also said 90 percent of the illegal aliens ICE handles are not criminal offenders beyond their illegal status in this country.   They would only be in the jail a short time while awaiting deportation.   “They’ll be in and out,” Davis said.   ICE is interested in renting 15 beds in the jail immediately, pending an inspection of the facility …

Costs of finishing the jail were not discussed at the meeting, although in November, Davis asked the commissioners at his year budget hearing for about $1,000,000 for the project.  To raise that amount without using local taxpayer money, the jail would need to house about 42 federal prisoners and/or illegal immigrants at $65 a day for one full year.

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Last week we reported on Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s decision to segregate illegal aliens from the rest of the Maricoipa County Jail population.  It seems that decision has caused some issues, as reported by KTAR-TV.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meets today to discuss possible legal ramifications of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s decision to segregate illegal immigrants in a special area at his Tent City Jail.   Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox has denounced the move as unconstitutional and vowed to seek an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department.  Immigrants rights activist Elias Bermudez said Arpaio’s move of about 200 illegal immigrants inmates to Tent City last week “is truly trying to say to all of us, ‘I really don’t care about human rights, I really don’t care about being human.’”  Bermudez called the move “abusive grandstanding” …

Even County Attorney Andrew Thomas broke ranks with his closest political ally Thursday by criticizing Arpaio’s decision to segregate the illegal immigrants.

Arpaio said the move was designed to make it easier for immigrants to have visits with officials of their home countries and to make room for other inmates at higher security jails. The sheriff told News/Talk 92-3 KTAR’s Jay Lawrence Sunday night that it is not uncommon to separate prisoners.   “We segregate sex violators, those who assault police, women. We do this all the time,” Arpaio said.  He said he will not attend today’s supervisors’ meeting. “Are you kidding? I’ve got more important things to do.”

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