Tuesday, July 15, 2008 Illegal immigrants strain jail budget
County officials say the solution lies with the federal government
BY ASHLEY DICKSON
summit daily news
Summit County, CO Colorado


ENLARGE SUMMIT COUNTY — An increase in illegal immigrants held at the Summit County Jail is stretching county budgets, and Sheriff John Minor is running out of ideas of how to accommodate a federal mandate with limited funding.

Sheriff’s offices throughout the state have been feeling the pressure to hold arrested illegal immigrants for longer periods since 2006, when the state adopted a law requiring police to notify U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement if they believe an arrested individual is in the country illegally.

The federal agency has three business days to take a suspected illegal immigrant into custody after an arrest has been made, and during that period, local law-enforcement agencies are not reimbursed for their costs, according to ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok.

“In my mind, the entire immigration system is broken,â€