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January 27, 2009

Illegal aliens mean cash for Essex County

By LOHR McKINSTRY

ELIZABETHTOWN — Essex County plans to start collecting federal funds for housing illegal aliens in the County Jail.

The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program will provide reimbursements for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens for four or more days.

The aliens must be convicted of at least one felony or two misdemeanors for the county to qualify for the payments.

Sheriff Henry Hommes said the county will contract with a private firm, Justice Benefits Inc. of Dallas, which specializes in getting federal reimbursements for municipalities.

"It's for sentenced inmates housed in our jail. It's not for the federal inmates we have in there now. This company does it for a percentage of the fee."

He said the company will gather the needed information and apply for the reimbursements. The county will provide Justice Benefits with a CD-ROM containing inmate data file information.

"It's a great savings in time" to have Justice Benefits do the paperwork, Hommes said.

The program was requested by Jail Administrator Richard Cutting and is recommended by County Manager Daniel Palmer.

"They collect benefits for illegal aliens housed in our jail," Palmer said.

The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, known as SCAAP, operates in conjunction with the federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Citizenship and Immigration Services and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The program provides federal payments to states and localities that have correctional-officer salary costs for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens with at least one felony or two misdemeanor convictions under state or local laws and who have been incarcerated for at least four consecutive days during the reporting period.

The county has about 80 federal inmates in its new jail, under an agreement with the U.S. Marshals Service.

Once those prisoners are sentenced, they are usually transported to federal prisons to serve their time. The Marshals Service pays the county for their boarding.

The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program would not cover those inmates, only people serving sentences in the County Jail, Hommes said.

The county has 35 to 45 local prisoners in the 120-bed jail on a daily basis, and some of those have been illegal aliens, the sheriff said.

E-mail Lohr McKinstry at: lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com

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