Thread: TN-Critics: Immigration Deputies Cost Metro

Critics: Immigration Deputies Cost Metro
Attorney Worried Immigration Program Federal Money Illegally Collected
Reported By Demetria Kalodimos

POSTED: 3:35 pm CST January 21, 2010
UPDATED: 7:26 pm CST January 21, 2010

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Few issues stir the pot like immigration. Depending on where one sits, Nashville's program for identifying and jailing illegal immigrants has either contributed to public safety or cost the public's trust.

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Critics of the controversial 287g program are now saying the Metro sheriff accepted too much federal money at first and now may be seeing too little.

In Arizona, the issue has become as thorny as the cactus: a county sheriff accused of going too far with 287g -- the law that extends limited immigration power to local governments -- to screen for citizenship.

"There are people in this country, in Arizona, who I do not want to be compared to," said Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall.

Hall said Nashville is doing it right, processing more illegal immigrants in two and a half years than any city east of Phoenix. While the numbers grew quickly, they made some furious.

In first month of the program, September 2007, the feds paid Metro a little more than $1,500 -- a set amount for each day the jail housed a suspected illegal immigrant accused of a crime before the feds decided to come and pick up the individual.

Just a month later, that federal tab had hit nearly $18,000 for the month.

Eight months into the housing agreement, it was getting expensive for the feds. They wrote Nashville a single monthly payment for more than $200,000 in accrued daily room and board.

"It has much more to do with when does the federal government want to drive up here and pick up van-loads of folks," said Hall. "So those months that look strange are strictly tied to the number of days people were staying with us."

In the last year or so, monthly reimbursement has fallen to an average of $35,000. And while they've trimmed staff, there are still 10 ICE deputies on duty, at a cost to Metro of about $800,000.

"So as a result of that lack of revenue, I am sure Metro government has had to subsidize that operation," said immigration attorney Elliott Ozment.

"They, the critics, have liked to say that money is going down so it's costing you money. They don't want to tell you we never asked for a penny to do the program. We never talked about money when we started it," Hall said. "For someone to look at the salaries of eight to 10 people, 24 hours a day, my question is, do you want us to look and see if homicide division, DUI divisions are bringing in revenue? If they're not paying for themselves, do you want us to do away with that as well?"

But critics have said it isn't just future costs that are worrisome; it's what happened in the past.

"It's my concern that that money has been illegally collected, illegally paid and one day may come back to haunt Metro government," said Ozment.

He may be the biggest thorn in the sheriff's side. Ozment was initially invited to help oversee 287g. He thinks Metro jailed thousands of people who never should have been held and accepted money that may one day need to be paid back.

"I think it could come back to haunt us," said Ozment. "The contract that they signed specifically limited the immigration enforcement activities of the sheriff's office to those that were convicted of federal and state felony offenses. Note that that only applied to felonies and only to those actually convicted of felonies, not those accused of felonies."

That criticism isn't new, and the sheriff insists it isn't correct.

"We have never wavered," said Hall. "You can dislike the program. You can say it's not a good thing to do, but for someone to say that we said one thing and did something else is a lie."

But under a brand-new agreement, there is now new language specifically prioritizing who stays in jail: only the worst suspected criminals -- and by all indications, those numbers are much smaller.

Hall said one of the few things supporters and critics agree on is the need for the government to assign an immigration judge to Nashville. That would save a lot of money on detention and transportation and get those accused before a judge in a reasonable amount of time.

The longest an inmate has been held in Nashville for immigration reasons is 37 days, which cost the federal government more than $2,200 in room and board.


http://www.wsmv.com/news/22305625/detail.html

For anyone interested in communicating with Mr. Ozment about his views:

Elliott Ozment Immigration Law
www.ozmentlaw.com
(website)

1214 Murfreesboro Pike
Nashville, TN 37217-2411 United States
(615) 321-8888

E-Mail Form:
http://www.ozmentlaw.com/index/index.ph ... 1&Itemid=3

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY FOR ELLIOTT OZMENT

Elliott Ozment graduated from Vanderbilt Law School in 1975 and obtained a Certificate in the Program for Instruction for Lawyers from Harvard Law School in 1990. Has focused his practice in immigration law since 1998. Has been a member of American Immigration Lawyers Association, American Bar Association, Tennessee Bar Association, Nashville Bar Association, and the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He has served as the Chair of the Immigration Law Committee of the Nashville Bar Association and is the legal counsel for the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He has provided initial consultations to over 1000 individuals and families and has represented hundreds of clients before the INS and USCIS (successor agency to the INS). He has also tried hundreds of immigration cases before numerous Immigration Courts (Memphis, Oakdale (LA), Atlanta (GA), New Orleans (LA), San Antonio (TX), York (PA),) and the Board of Immigration Appeals in Washington, D.C. He has also represented immigration clients in numerous U.S. District Courts (usually involving police abuse) and has represented immigration appellants before the U.S. Court of Appeals in the Fifth Circuit (New Orleans) and the Sixth Circuit (Cincinnati). He currently serves as a legal advisor to the Mexican Consulate in Atlanta, Georgia. He has formerly served as a Representative in the Tennessee House of Representatives and was a Political Analyst for local and state political affairs for Channel 2 News in Nashville.

From:
"The Immigration Law Offices of Elliott Ozment" website
http://www.ozmentlaw.com/index/index.ph ... 3&Itemid=4