The home turf of the #RESIST movement in California has identified yet another blow to strike in their war one ICE and U.S. immigration enforcement law efforts. Sacramento County has voted to cancel their contracts with the Department of Homeland Security regarding agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) relating to the housing of illegal aliens detained in their territory. I suppose this is intended to “send a message” to the White House. (CBS Sacramento)
Undocumented immigrants will no longer be housed in Sacramento County.
In a narrow vote Tuesday night, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors canceled a contract with the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain immigrants inside a correctional facility as they await deportation.
The contract provided millions of federal dollars to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department each year.
In a 3-2 vote, supervisors chose not to renew the county’s contract with ICE, that since 2013, has housed federal detainees inside the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center just outside Elk Grove.
This latest incident of Trump Derangement Syndrome is not only ineffective in terms of “protecting immigrants” but imposes yet another burden on the budget of the county which is home to the state legislature. The contract they are canceling was worth millions of dollars per year to the already cash-strapped district. And all they had to do to collect the federal funds was briefly house criminal illegal aliens in a facility which was already in place and in need of funding to sustain it.
When asked how they would justify this refusal of federal funds, one county supervisor simply said, “Our budgets are reflective of our values.” That’s rather odd considering how hard Sacramento is fighting to demand federal funds continue to flow their way in the form of Justice Department grants which may be canceled due to noncompliance.
Does your budget also reflect the fact that you have to pay for these facilities? Or, more appropriately, that your taxpayers have to pay for these facilities? We’re not even talking about asking local officials to go out and round up illegal aliens. That remains the job of federal officials. This is simply a question of real estate and having cells to temporarily hold them. At what point do you stop cutting off your nose to spite your own face?
If Sacramento County wishes to make this decision it’s up to them. ICE can simply haul the illegal aliens off to another facility, moving them even further away from their families, legal representation and support networks as their cases are processed. Good job, Sacramento. You’ve certainly shown President Trump who the boss is now, haven’t you?
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