The federal government reimbursed local governments nearly $4.5 million for arresting and detaining illegal immigrants through a Justice Department program last year.
The money from the department ranged from about $200,000 for Alexandria to about $1.5 million for Montgomery County.
The reimbursement for fiscal 2008 comes through the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, which provides funds for state and local jails that house undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of a felony or second-degree misdemeanor, and have been housed in a corrections facility for four or more straight days.
Loudoun County saw a dramatic increase in its grant, from about $30,000 in 2005 to just under $500,000 this year. The Sheriff’s Office hired a Texas public-sector consulting firm to help land more federal funding in 2008.
“It is difficult sometimes to find these funds — that’s why we used this group,” said Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kraig Troxell. “I believe this is the highest amount we’ve ever received.”
Loudoun in June announced a partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to crack down on illegal immigrants who commit crimes, but Troxell said he did not anticipate that it would affect further reimbursements through the Justice program.
Other counties in the region also have been steadily receiving more funds through the program.
The reimbursement granted to Prince William County has more than doubled since 2005, but the amount was the same in fiscal 2007, with the county receiving just over $580,000 in both 2007 and 2008.
Prince William has taken the most aggressive steps of any jurisdiction in the region in identifying and deporting illegal immigrants.
The District received just over $80,000 in 2005, and nearly $240,000 in 2008.
The federal government relies on inmate data that cities and counties submit every year— as well as appropriations from Congress — in determining the amount of money to grant to each jurisdiction, according to the Justice Department.
Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart said that though the Justice program funding covers a small portion of costs associated with jailing illegal immigrants, the real problem is not the reimbursement program.
“The federal government should be picking up more of the charge for all the counties” because of its failure to protect the country’s borders, he said.
Local jurisdictions are typically reimbursed about 30 percent of the costs for jailing criminal illegal immigrants through the program, according to the Department of Justice.
