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Monday, April 7, 2008
Who pays for 287 (g)?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’ll just come right out and say it —287(g) is nothing more than an excuse for the federal government not to do it’s job.
While I applaud the county for taking an active part in the few options they have dealing with illegal immigration. Illegal immigration IS a federal issue. The fact that ICE provides such a program for local governments who take the bait just further enables the feds not to do their jobs by not securing the borders and not enforcing immigration policies already on the book.
Cha-ching! Drizzle-drizzle-drizzle. That would be your tax dollars going down the drain.
There are plenty of political obstacles and financial hoops Gwinnett has to jump through in order to even be accepted into the program, but there is one thing we should all understand very clearly… while it will certainly have some impact, 287(g) is NOT the answer to the county’s illegal immigration problem.
Sheriff Conway did manage (after being used as a political ping-pong ball in election year “I can do anything you can do better” antics) to leap one of the major hurdles on the path through the application process. Money.
The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners approved the funding for the 18 additional officers Conway requested for Gwinnett to efficiently operate the program. Now the pressure rests solely on Sheriff Conway’s shoulders to make this happen.
Cha-ching! A million dollars for officers to process everyone through the program, vehicles and equipment per year.
Don’t think that 18 officers or the additional funds are necessary? I know… I know… Cobb County did it with officers already on the payroll. Allow me to do a little comparison for you of the two systems that makes the answer pretty self-explanatory:
Cobb County Gwinnett County
of arrests in 2007 36,500 39,000 of “foreign nationals” arrested in 2007 5,500 13,000Of those 13,000 arrested, up from 9,400 in 2006 by the way, some of them may have been arrested as many as six times. Another staggering number: 59.000, the number of “foreign nationals” arrested from 2000-2007 in Gwinnett. Keep in mind the majority of them are minor traffic violations.
The county still has to address another major hurdle — the 400 inmates currently sleeping on the floor— a mandate via the American Corrections Association, to enter the program.
Cha-ching! Approximately up to $6.6 million a year if the county is forced to house out all those inmates to other facilities. That amount could potentially increase to over $10 million a year by 2012.
Sheriff Conway has told me that the extensive application process is already underway and barring no further hurdles 287(g) can be in place as soon as October.
You asked for it. Get your check books ready.
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