Lee Sheriff’s Office applying for federal money to pay for holding illegal immigrants in jails

By SARAH DONOVAN
Posted April 20, 2010 at 5:50 p.m.

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/apr ... y-pay-hol/


LEE COUNTY — The Lee County Sheriff’s Office will apply for a federal grant to get reimbursed for the annual cost of housing illegal immigrants in detention facilities.

Lee County Commissioners on Tuesday gave approval to the proposal from the Sheriff’s Office.

The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program provides federal compensation to localities that have incurred correctional officer salary costs for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens with at least one felony or two misdemeanor convictions for violations of state or local law and who have been incarcerated for at least four consecutive days during the reporting period. The application is due May 7 at 6 p.m.

“Right now, we’re not getting reimbursed for it, so we’d like to be reimbursed for holding federal detainees in county facilities,â€