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New prison, more guards make for bigger county grant from state to handle jailed immigrants
January 15,2007
Andres R. Martinez
Monitor Staff Writer

EDINBURG — The federal government pays Hidalgo County about $30 a day per inmate to cover expenses related to housing illegal immigrants who have committed crimes.

But that amount doesn’t cover the $40 the county spends on each county inmate who is bumped to the private East Hidalgo Detention Center when illegal immigrants crowd the county jail, Sheriff Lupe Treviño said.

"If I didn’t have this problem with illegal immigrants, I’d have space for (county inmates) here at the jail," he said.

And while the federal government doles out $287 million a year in grants to county and state prisons to cover such expenses, that still isn’t enough to cover the costs here.

"I am losing $40 a day," Treviño said.

Hidalgo County’s share of the federal money skyrocketed in 2005, pushing the county from almost last in compensation for Texas counties to second in the state.

Hidalgo County received $714,808 in 2005, second only to Harris County, which got more than $2.5 million.

That’s a sharp increase from 2004, when Hidalgo County was paid $48,291.

The program, known as the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, or SCAAP, guarantees that the federal government pay counties for housing illegal immigrants in their jails. The money reimburses the law enforcement agency for the work involved in housing them.

The grants are determined by the number of officers employed by the jail, the number of beds, the number of inmates and the number of illegal immigrants. Hidalgo County got a bigger share in 2005 because it opened a larger prison and hired more guards. The increase in both guarantees more grant money.

The county jail housed about 3,500 illegal immigrants in both years.

The latest numbers for fiscal years 2004 and 2005 are from a U.S. Justice Department report released last week that details how a limited number of counties that are being compensated are not following guidelines set by the government.

Specifically, they are not always contacting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement when an illegal immigrant’s prison term is up so they can be deported.

"We found that local jurisdictions often set the enforcement of state and local law as a priority," the report says. They sometimes encourage or permit "law enforcement agencies and officers to work with ICE to some degree on immigration matters."

The report redacted the names of the counties that said they were not following all procedure.

But the report’s criticism isn’t valid for Hidalgo County, which was among the counties surveyed, Treviño said.

"I brought in a real good relationship with Border Patrol," he said. "I gave them office (space) and access to my computer system."

Border Patrol agents come in twice a day and review whatever cases they want, flagging anyone they believe should be interviewed. If they determine the inmate is here illegally, they notify ICE, which has the person deported upon completion of his or her sentence.

"They are taking the illegal immigrants out of my jail so I don’t have to deal with them," Treviño said.

The only jurisdiction that failed to follow all procedure was San Francisco, which does not provide data about illegal immigrants to the federal government.

The federal government paid out more than $287 million in SCAAP grants to local governments in fiscal year 2005. That amount is expected to increase about $100 million for fiscal year 2006, which already ended.

Only county and state jails qualify to be reimbursed. The illegal alien must have committed a felony or at least two misdemeanors to qualify for the program. And state and county governments can only ask for money for inmates whom they held for more than four days.