Loss of illegal-immigrant jail fund would hurt Tennessee
State, Metro may lose $600k
By Kate Howard May 8, 2009

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Davidson County's jails and Tennessee's state prisons will lose a combined $600,000 a year if a federal reimbursement program for illegal immigrant prisoners is eliminated.



As part of the upcoming year's budget, President Barack Obama has proposed cutting the State Criminal Alien Assistance program, which spends $400 million annually to cover the costs state and local facilities incur in keeping in jail illegal immigrants who are also criminal offenders.

In Tennessee, the state Department of Correction got more than $350,000 from the program. The Davidson County Sheriff's Office received $274,000.

"On its face, it's difficult, given the difficult times we're in," said Sheriff Daron Hall. "This amount of money, more than a quarter million dollars, is a piece of money we'd like to have and need to have."

Federal use changes
According to the budget proposal, the administration hopes to instead use the money from the reimbursement program to enhance federal immigration enforcement.

"We hope the end of the story would be that it's moved into an area that may help not only Metro but the overall effort, to offset the costs of criminal (immigrants) in the system," Hall said. "But right now it's a difficult hit to take."

The funding is unrelated from sheriff's participation in the federal 287g program. The Sheriff's Office has staff trained as deputies of Immigration and Customs Enforcement that question foreign-born inmates to determine whether they're in the country legally. If they aren't, they're placed under a hold and turned over to federal custody to face deportation when they've finished serving their local sentence.

Through that program, the sheriff is reimbursed for staff and the cost of holding inmates as federal detainees until they're picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. More than 5,300 people have been deported through that program since it was brought to Nashville two years ago.

Through the state assistance program, the jail sends data on inmates once a year, and the federal government analyzes it to see what the impact has been from illegal immigrants. The formula for reimbursement depends on the number of inmates and the length of their incarcerations, as well as the cost of salaries for correctional officers and overall operations.

The state assistance money came directly to the jail's operations, Hall said, making the loss a little harder to bear. Hall said his office just filled out this year's application for the money, and he hopes it won't be canceled before this year's money is received.

State will adjust
At the state prisons, the reimbursement goes toward the general operations of the facilities, said Tennessee Department of Correction spokeswoman Dorinda Carter.

Commissioner George Little said he understands the president has to make some tough decisions about the federal budget.

"The inmates covered under this program are not with us because of federal mandates or federal laws, but these are individuals who have broken Tennessee laws, and Tennessee would have to pay to house them in our prisons in any event," Little said in an e-mail. "We will continue to manage within the available resources.''




Contact Kate Howard at kahoward@tennessean.com.


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