Almost 750 illegal immigrants were turned over to federal immigration officials in the first year of Prince William County’s crackdown on illegal immigrants.
Of the 867 detained, 747 inmates were given to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the fiscal year that ended June 30, Col. Peter Meletis, superintendent of the county’s Adult Detention Center, told the Board of Supervisors Tuesday.
Over the past few months, the jail had 340 foreign-born suspects jailed per month, which created additional work for the 10 full-time center employees committed to monitoring the crackdown.
“Not everyone’s illegal, but [staff members] have to find out if they are or not,” Meletis said.
The crackdown also caused the jail’s daily population to climb 7 percent to 981 inmates from 916 in 2007.
Those extra inmates drove expenses for the year up to $33.9 million, up from $29.8 million in 2007.
Meletis said the jail went $779,175 over budget because of costs related to the illegal immigration crackdown, with unbudgeted overtime payment alone accounting for nearly $130,000 of the shortfall.
Supervisor Maureen Caddigan, R-Dumfries, said the board was well aware the crackdown would be costly when it began a year ago.
“We knew this was going to be expensive when we did it,” she said.
But John Jenkins, D-Neabsco, was not satisfied to simply accept the crackdown’s budgetary effect.
“I think the public has to understand … this is the cost of implementing our illegal immigration ordinance,” he said.
Supervisor Michael May, R-Occoquan, said that with a new statewide law requiring jail officials to report all foreign-born inmates to federal authorities, some might perceive Prince William’s crackdown as redundant.
“For the benefit of the public, I want them to understand that this is money well spent,” he said. “We’re not just crossing our fingers and hoping they’re detained.”
A proposal to transfer $779,175 received from ICE into the county’s 2008 budget to offset the shortfall passed 6-0, with Republican Chairman Corey Stewart and Supervisor Martin Nohe, R-Coles, absent.
