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Sheriff disingenuous to claim no cost for jailing immigrants

By Gritsforbreakfast

County jail overcrowding, meet immigration hysteria.Even though Harris County Sheriff Tommy Thomas' jail is so overcrowded they must ship 600 inmates at a time to Louisiana to meet staffing requirements, he's proposing that his deputies be trained to use federal "287g" authority to identify and detain illegal immigrants in the county jail until they're picked up by ICE.Houston Chron writer James Pinkerton tells us that there's "no charge to local law enforcement" to receive the training ("Immigration training for jailers draws praise," Feb. 6).Well gee, that's nice. But there's a BIG charge to holding extra inmates in the local jail when it's already overcrowded! The county will have to increase staffing to pay for the extra beds, or else lease more private beds out of state...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on February 06, 2008 (boomark / email).