CALDWELL, Idaho — Canyon County will accept thousands in grant money from the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, to reimburse the county for housing undocumented people in the jail, according to the Idaho Press.
The Board of Canyon County Commissioners voted to accept $43,694 in grant money from the federal immigration program; this is nearly three times the typical annual amount the county has received over the past decade.
The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program is managed by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, under the U.S. Department of Justice, and gives money to state or local governments that incur costs from the incarceration of “undocumented criminal aliens” with at least one felony or two misdemeanor convictions in a specified yearlong period, according to the grant.
In a Board of Canyon County Commissioners meeting Wednesday, Canyon County Chief Deputy Sheriff Marv Dashiell told commissioners Pam White and Leslie Van Beek, “We are being reimbursed for housing criminal aliens within a local jurisdiction.”
The $43,000 was from costs incurred in fiscal year 2018, covering costs the Canyon County jail incurred from July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2018.
According to previous reporting from the Idaho Press, Canyon County also receives $77 from Immigration and Customs Enforcement per day to keep inmates on immigration holds. After someone is booked into the county jail on local charges, ICE can place immigration holds on them before their trials. Once the local charges are completed, ICE must remove the inmate from Canyon County jail.
Dashiell said ICE usually takes inmates after a couple of days. He added that the county jail does not house undocumented people long term.
In fiscal year 2017, the county received $10,459 in SCAA program funds, and in 2016 the county received $15,485 for holding 27 inmates confirmed to be in the country illegally.
Records on the number of confirmed undocumented inmates in 2018 were not immediately available.
Canyon County has received over $560,600 in SCAAP grants in the last 10 years. The county’s award amounts were much greater in 2008 and 2009, during the George W. Bush Administration. Canyon County received $124,751 for fiscal year 2009 and $126,926 for fiscal year 2008.
Dashiell told commissioners Wednesday that the funds will be used for officer training, like one coming up in Colorado in April.
Both Van Beek and White voted in favor of accepting the funds. Commissioner Tom Dale was absent.
“Sounds like a good program,” Van Beek said.
Last year, Ada County accepted $26,805 in grant funding from SCAA.
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