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| Sheriff rejects illegal-immigrant holding |
| By Thelma Guerrero |
| Published: 04/23/2009 |
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Marion County Sheriff Russ Isham has turned down a proposal from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to use the county jail as a regional holding place for suspected criminal illegal immigrants. The deal would have meant an influx of federal money for Marion County. The sheriff's decision has drawn fire from groups and people opposed to illegal immigration. "I don't understand that," said Jim Ludwick, president of the anti-illegal-immigration group, Oregonians for Immigration Reform. "It's costing taxpayers in Marion County about $2.3 million per year to incarcerate about 80 illegal aliens," he said. "It would seem to me that anything that can be done to mitigate that would certainly be of benefit to the people of the county." Isham said the county already has enough of its own criminals and doesn't need to handle anyone else's at the 528-bed facility. Before making his decision, the sheriff sought feedback from various groups in the community, including people who support immigrants and people who are against illegal immigration. In the end, he decided against the deal because of "concerns I had about how the partnership with ICE would affect the relationships my office has worked so hard to develop with minority groups in Marion County," Isham told the Statesman Journal. "But I admit, the money was appealing." ICE told sheriff officials they likely would house eight to 10 detainees at the jail at any given time from other jurisdictions, until they could be transported to the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Wash. At $74.07 per day for each detainee, Marion County would have seen $600 to more than $700 per day in federal funds for housing detainees from other jurisdictions. The deal also would have paid for foreign-born criminals in custody at the jail on local charges. Through the federal government's State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, or SCAAP, state and local governments can ask to be reimbursed for housing criminals held on local charges and who have had ICE holds placed on them, said Raul Ramirez, executive director of the Oregon State Sheriff's Association and former Marion County sheriff. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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