COUNTY SEEKS FEDERAL FUNDS FOR CRIMINAL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

The County Board of Supervisors authorized a request for funding from the federal government to cover at least part of the costs for incarcerating criminal illegal immigrants, even as the federal government adopted a policy that could further reduce the reimbursement. The Sheriff’s Department estimates the costs to incarcerate undocumented criminal aliens in Fiscal Year 2010-11 were $17.3 million. To date, the County has received reimbursements in the amount of $14.9 million over a 14-year period. San Bernardino County may have fewer inmates of unknown status thanks to a program it began in January 2006 that helps determine immigration status when a person is arrested. Screening can now be done remotely at jails in Victorville, Barstow, Morongo Basin and San Bernardino.