Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings sent a letter to federal officials last Friday, threatening to cancel the county’s agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement next month if the feds fail to renegotiate a higher reimbursement rate for the cost of detaining federal inmates in the Orange County Jail.
Under the county’s intergovernmental services agreement with ICE, negotiated through the U.S. Marshals Service, the Orange County Jail is allowed to serve as a temporary detention facility for people arrested by ICE on allegations of being in the U.S. illegally. The federal government is currently reimbursing the jail $88 for each person it holds, while county officials say the actual cost of housing a person is $180.
County officials contacted the U.S. Marshals Service six months ago, in August, to ask for a higher reimbursement rate, to offset the cost that is otherwise left to be footed by Orange County taxpayers, including people who have rallied in the streets against ICE. According to Demings, however, federal officials — while acknowledging the county’s request — have so far failed to offer a suitable reimbursement rate…