Border Patrol will pay $70 per night per ‘illegal alien’ at correctional center in North Dakota

2012-04-13 09:52 AM
By: Jacob Goodwin

The U.S. Border Patrol is planning to house temporarily more than 400 “illegal aliens” per year in its Grand Forks, North Dakota, sector at the nearby Grand Forks County Correctional Center at a cost of $70 per detainee per night.

The Border Patrol intends to award a sole source contract to the Grand Forks facility, rather than use the jail in Hillsboro County, ND (which is 43 miles away) or the jail in Polk County, MN (which is 35 miles away.)

The correctional center in Grand Forks, says the Border Patrol’s justification document, “is vital for the Grand Forks Sector Border Patrol Operations as manpower during overnight shifts would have to travel 35 miles, at a minimum, to the next closest detention center to house apprehended illegal aliens.”

The Grand Forks correctional facility charges the Border Patrol a flat rate of $70 per detainee per day for housing, food and water. The Border Patrol estimates it will detain 428 individuals per year, for an annual cost of $29,960, and a total cost for the one-year base period plus all four one-year options of $149,800, says a notice it published on April 12. “This is the same rate that GFCC charges other Federal and Local law enforcement agencies, and this rate has not changed over the last five years,” it adds.

Detainees must be kept in a county or state jail that meets the requirements of the U.S. Marshal’s Service. “Jail services could not be provided by or are available from a private source in the area, but solely from the available local, county or state government agency,” explains the Border Patrol. That would exclude local motels that are part of the Ramada, Travelodge, Howard Johnson and Budget Inn chains, which charge less than $70 per night for a motel room in Grand Forks that can accommodate two people, but of course these motels do not include food and do not detain their residents under lock-and-key.

Further information on this planned sole source contract is available from Joshua Bedregal, a contract specialist, at 202-325-4109 or joshua.bedregal@dhs.gov.

Border Patrol will pay $70 per night per