Dec 20, 2006 7:20 am US/Central
Ramsey Co. Sheriff: No To Housing Illegal Aliens
St. Paul (AP) ―
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The county averages 60 detainees per day and received $2 million from the federal government for doing so last year. (File)
Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher said Tuesday that, for the next month, the St. Paul jail would not house suspected illegal immigrants who have been detained by federal officials.
The moratorium will be in place while Ramsey County commissioners conduct a formal study of the county's policy on housing detainees.
"I think you're going in the right direction," Fletcher said at a regular commission meeting.
Commissioner Rafael Ortega, of St. Paul, said he wanted the county to get out of the business of holding detainees for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The county averages 60 detainees per day and received $2 million from the federal government for doing so last year.
As a whole, board members reacted to Ortega's position with caution.
Shoreview commissioner Tony Bennett, a former U.S. Marshal, said if the detainees aren't held in St. Paul, they will be sent elsewhere, possibly at a greater cost.
"Are we going to create a worse situation?" asked commissioner Jim McDonough, of St. Paul. "Are we actually doing more harm to people who are already in a tough situation ... separating them further from their families?"
He also advised caution on taking the initiative in matters involving the jail.
County administrators will study the potential financial impact of turning away immigration detainees, thought to be as much as $800,000 next year. Initial results of the study are expected next month.
Tim Counts, a local spokesman for the immigration agency, said several jails in the Twin Cities -- Sherburne, Carver and Washington counties among them -- hold detainees. So does the state prison in Rush City.
Counts estimated there are 150 to 200 detainees in Minnesota jails and prisons on any given day.
Jail space is a considerable issue for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, of which the immigration agency is a part. In June, the department said it needed 35,000 more detention beds to hold those awaiting deportation.
But some local officials are reluctant to take custody of the illegal immigrants.
In Ramsey County, a woman awaiting deportation to Ecuador died in the county jail. Maria Inamagua Merchan collapsed five weeks after being detained and later died, apparently of an undiagnosed parasitic infection.
"There are a lot of issues when you deal with the immigrant population that we're not geared up to deal with," Ortega said. "There are language issues, there are cultural issues, there are health issues. We need to examine if this is a business we want to stay in."
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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