Part 1. What did the BOCS know?
Part 2 will show that Corey accuses others of ‘having blood on their hands’ when he knew very good and well the situation with I.C.E. Judging from the dates, he also needs to admit that this issue did not start or end with the present administration.
This video was from a BOCS meeting Spring , 2008. It shows the problems inherent in the MOA between ICE and the county. Let’s revisit some of the issues. It seems that many people have forgotten what really happened.
Both Charlie Deane and Jail Superintendent Pete Meletis give their points of view.
Chief Deane updated the BOCS on the status of the Immigration Resolution. Superintendent Meletis warned the BOCS of the problems the ADC was encountering with ICE. ICE was not picking up the ICE detainees after they had served their time in PWC. PWC was attempting to have every illegal alien picked up. ICE rep Mark McGraw told the BOCS that their numbers were overwhelming. He felt that PWC was getting away from the original understanding which was to remove the worst of the worst from the county.
Reminder to his critics: Here you will see Chief Deane salute the job he was given to do. What has changed?
At some point, even the most die hard anti-immigration person has to admit that they cannot deport illegal immigrants themselves. They must rely on ICE and a federal deportation judge. A locality can enact all the draconian laws they want…it doesn’t make ICE get there any faster.
Apparently we need to start building detention centers since ICE and the courts are refusing to do their jobs. The purpose of ICE is not to just “remove the worst of the worst.” Its to control immigration. If they feel they can’t do the job with the resources they have, they need to make an argument for more. BUT, they don’t seem to want to do more.
The ICE detention facility opened for business this week down in Farmville. So now when ICE picks up people they actually have a place to put them, rather than having to rent available bed space in jails thru out the region.
How can we say the ICE isn’t doing its job? It does what it can do. There is only so much room. There are ony so many agents. I think that is simply unfair.
The immigration detention center holds what? 500? How long would that take to fill up?
Why all the outrage now? McGraw told them, Meletis told them. Now Corey Stewart acts all surprised? It sounds like they were told before they signed the MOA that there would only be x number of pick ups and that they are agreeing not to the worst of the worst, not a removal system of those randomly picked up.
There is just something offensive about a county that wants to remove people just because they exist. I am all for removing criminals. When we start removing residents who are not criminals, it reminds me of some sort of final solution.
DB, that is a privately owned facility, is it not? Doesn’t everyone pay the same fee? (much less than if you have to rent out space from another locality)
ICE pays less per detainee at the facility than the various going rates at local jails, so the gov’t gets to save a bit of money, plus the detainees are all in one place rather than spread out at a variety of places. The facility may be privately run, but ICE calls the shots as far as how the place is run, the set up of the place, medical requirements, employees, etc. The name of the place I believe is something like ICE Civil Detention Facility. It’s strictly Level 1 and Level 2 detainees. Level 3 detainees must be housed in jails.
Thing is about how ICE works is that they are given a budget for housing detainees. So if the budget gives only X amount of money for housing detainees, and there are more detainees than money to house them, then a decision has to be made as to which get placed in detention facilities, and which are required to call in monthly. It’s not so much about space as it is about the money.
Thanks for that clarification. So these are non-violent detainees?
Yes, they are low risk for violent behavior. Violent criminals and those with gang affiliations are held in local jails while awaiting deportation.
Have all been convicted of low level crimes?
I don’t think all of them have been convicted of a crime, but some may have been. I think the flight risk of detainees is taken into account when deciding if they go to detention or remain out while deportation proceedings are pending. I’m not exactly sure how it’s all decided. I do know that violent criminals are turned over after their prison time has been served and they are promptly removed from the country.
Good. They should be removed!
Our officials knew that ICE was already stressed and that those on an ICE detainer were being released. The above film documents that the BOCS was told. What did they do about it? Nothing.