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Pinal County Wants Feds To Pay More For Housing Immigration Detainees

Pinal County is setting a deadline for the federal government to increase payments for immigration detainees held at the county jail. The county has been losing money on the agreement for eight years.

The Pinal County Board of Supervisors has voted to give the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency a 100-day notice that the county will end the contract. 

County spokesman Joe Pyritz said the county has lost $14 million to $16 million since it agreed to house the detainees in 2006. He said the supervisors requested ICE increase the daily rate it pays from $60 per detainee to almost $80 each.

“The last thing we want is to be able to get them out of there because they use the facility and they need facility space. We are really interested in continuing our relationship with ICE and we’re hoping they will come to the table with that fair and equitable rate," Pyritz said.

In a written statement, an ICE spokeswoman said if no agreement is reached under the county’s deadline the agency will be able to find another space to house its immigration detainees in the region.   

Steve Shadley was a reporter at KJZZ from 1990 to 1996 and from 2012 to 2015.