Checking legal status not pricey, sheriff says

Jenkins stands by his claim that his department’s participation in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement program will cost county taxpayers nothing extra. ‘‘There are no significant costs,” he said.

Earlier this year, Jenkins enrolled 26 of his deputies, 16 of whom work at the Frederick County Adult Detention Center, in training to participate in the federal program, known as 287G.

Deputies at the jail in mid-April began checking the immigration status of everyone taken to the jail, including those arrested by the Brunswick Police Department, Thurmont Police, City of Frederick Police Department and Maryland State Police.

The 10 patrol officers trained in the program have yet to start checking immigration status when making an arrest because of computer problems, Jenkins said.

In a press conference Tuesday, Casa de Maryland released a 27-page report placing an annual cost of $3.2 million on the 287G program to dispute Jenkins’s claim that the program costs the county nothing.

‘‘We examined public documents and available data in regards to the sheriff’s program,” said Kerri O’Brien, Casa de Maryland’s manager of legal programs and a Maryland attorney. ‘‘...We believe the cost to be $3.2 million per year to the people of Frederick County.”

Casa de Maryland arrived at the $3.2 million figure by adding the cost to train the 26 deputies in the program ($161,000), annual staffing ($2,091,913 million), foster care for children of immigrants that have been arrested ($107,921), and housing illegal immigrants at the detention center ($856,386).

Jenkins took issue with all those numbers.

Casa de Maryland arrived at $161,000 in training by determining the average weekly salary of a deputy at the jail and on patrol, multiplying it by the number of deputies who trained in the 287G program, and multiplying that by the number of weeks they were in training.

Jenkins responded that the officers who trained in the program were not paid extra. ‘‘We would be paying them anyway,” he said.

Casa de Maryland determined annual staffing of $2,091,913 by multiplying the average salary of a full-time deputy on patrol by 10 (the number that trained); multiplying the average salary of a full-time deputy at the jail by 16 (the number that trained); and adding those two together.

Jenkins said that is not fair. Deputies in the program will still perform their regular duties; checking immigration status is an additional responsibility. ‘‘We have not hired any additional staff, and we don’t plan on hiring additional staff,” he said.

Casa de Maryland determined it would cost Frederick County $856,386 to jail illegal immigrants using costs from Prince William County, Va.

Jenkins said using costs from Prince William County is not fair or accurate, in part because costs vary from county to county and inmate to inmate.

Jenkins also took issue with Casa de Maryland’s claims that the Latino inmate population has increased dramatically over the last three years.

As of Wednesday, 460 inmates are being held at the detention center, 106 of whom are Hispanic.

However, 51 of those 106 were not arrested in Frederick County; they are being held through a separate partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Under that partnership, the federal government pays Frederick County $83 a day to house illegal immigrants arrested throughout the mid-Atlantic region while they await deportation proceedings.

Jenkins placed the Hispanic population in the county jail at 34, the number arrested by police agencies in Frederick County before partnerships with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement began.

‘‘They’re arguments just don’t fly,” he said. ‘‘We have people closely monitoring the program. ICE is closely monitoring the program every day. ... We don’t arrest people because of their race. I can’t help it if they break the law.”

Representatives from Casa de Maryland could not be reached for comment on Jenkins’s reaction to the report by The Gazette deadline Wednesday.

Casa de Maryland also recommended that Jenkins put a halt to the 287G program, a request he has no intention of honoring. ‘‘We’re going to keep going,” he said.

To read the report

To read Casa de Maryland’s report, go to www.casademaryland.org. A link is located on the right side of the page.