You’ve heard of sanctuary cities and sanctuary states, but less common is the concept of the sanctuary county. Still, that seems to be the plan for Hudson County in New Jersey. A majority of freeholders there recently voted to end a long-running partnership agreement between the County and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) which is set to expire this summer. Currently, the sheriff’s deputies can not only notify ICE about illegal aliens being held in the jail on other criminal charges but basically do all of the work to process the case themselves.

That’s all coming to an end this summer because county officials have decided to take a stand, make a statement and #RESIST. There’s just one problem with this bold statement of liberal activism. When you look into the details you find that pretty much nothing at all is going to change except for the county blowing a big hole in their budget. (NJ.com)

Hudson County has decided to end its controversial partnership with federal immigration officers, officials announced on Friday.

Activists have long called for the county to cut its ties with the U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) program – commonly referred to as 287(g) – where corrections officers at the jail are tasked with notifying ICE about inmates who are not legally in the United States.

The county’s jail in Kearny will continue to house immigrant detainees, which in October accounted for 60 percent of the jail’s population.

The decision comes less than one month after more than half of the county’s freeholders vocalized they wanted to end the partnership, which was renewed in 2016.

The partnership they were enrolled in is known as a 2879g0 program administered by ICE. A number of state, local and county jails and law enforcement agencies participate in these programs and it’s a pretty sweet deal both for ICE and for the local jails. Rather than simply cooperation by phone, ICE actually has an office set up in the jail run by a qualified local deputy or police officer. When they pick up an illegal alien on other charges, they hold them as needed and keep ICE in the loop until they’re ready to pick them up. In return, the local agency can be paid up to $110 per prisoner per day.

As you read in the excerpt above, the Hudson County jail population is currently running an average of roughly 60% of their inmates being illegal aliens, so that’s got to be a significant boon for their budget. But with the end of the program, the money dries up.

But that’s okay because now they’ll be sticking up for the “immigrant community” and not helping ICE, right? Not in the least. Did you notice the line in the linked article where it says, “the county’s jail in Kearny will continue to house immigrant detainees?” The office is still remaining on-site in the jail, only now an ICE officer will have to man it personally and run it themselves. When new illegals are picked up they will still be processed and ICE will be on hand to take them away as appropriate.

So what’s really changing here aside from losing out on what is likely tens of thousands of dollars in federal funding per month? Nothing, really. But at least the freeholders got the chance to hold a vote, make a few headlines and show everyone how they were standing up to Trump and defending illegal aliens. Except, of course, they’re actually doing neither.