As of Monday, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office had taken in 140 people as part of an agreement with the federal government to hold ICE detainees.
It comes as President Donald Trump continues to ramp up immigration and deportation efforts in the U.S.
The sheriff’s office agreed to serve as a holding facility earlier this year. Officials say the department isn’t making ICE arrests or determining how long people are held; that’s up to the federal government.
In April, nearly 50 women were booked into Clark County jail in the first days of the agreement. Sheriff Scottie Maples said this week they have 95 people in custody.
Maples said the sheriff’s office agreed to the request to house people detained by people detained by ICE because he has the space and wants to assist the federal government when possible.
“Communication with [the] Department of Homeland Security has been very, very smooth, direct, quick and very precise on directions, on what's incoming and outgoing and what they want done,” he said. “I'm very happy with the beginning stages of our communication and collaboration on this effort.”
Generating county revenue
Under the agreement, the federal government pays the county $70 per day per person under ICE detainment. That’s the same amount paid for local incarceration of people on federal charges. The county gets additional compensation for transportation expenses for people in custody. Information from the sheriff’s office shows the agency billed for more than $82,000 for the first few weeks it started taking ICE detainees in April.
That revenue is expected to go up, as the jail houses more people under ICE detention, and when the rate to house people detained on federal charges or ICE-related matters goes up, $90 per diem in August according to Maples.
The sheriff’s office agreed to take up to 150 people at a time based on capacity. So far, they haven’t gone over 100 at a time. The jail can hold a total of around 700 people. Jail records show they had just over 600 people total in custody as of Monday morning.
The number of people being detained has varied. But if the jail consistently holds 75 people under the ICE agreement at the current rate, that adds up to more than $157,000 per month to the county. After the rate raise in August, that’s more than $200,000 per month, or around $2.3 million dollars per year.
All of that is paid to the county, not the sheriff’s office. Maples, the sheriff, said he hasn’t asked the county for additional funding to support the program and doesn’t plan to.
“I would limit the amount of ICE detainees I had before I would ask… for more county money, county taxpayer dollars,” he said.
Clark County Council President Brian Lenfert didn’t speak to the ICE agreement itself, but said the revenue from it could help offset any potential changes to what the county receives in property taxes under a comprehensive state tax bill passed this year.
Indiana SEA 1 would lower property taxes which could result in cuts to what the county brings in. Lenfert said financial advisor Baker Tilly will provide more information next month on what the new law means for Clark County, before the council starts on the budget process for next year.
Lenfert said, however, that the Clark County Council should use caution when deciding how to use revenue from the ICE contract.
“The county council should be very careful about these dollars,” he said. “Because they are not guaranteed, and I have no idea for how long we will receive them.”
Advocacy efforts
Large-scale demonstrations continue in Los Angeles this week as thousands of residents push back against President Trump’s decision to deploy U.S. National Guard troops to the city to support ICE officers. Last week, immigration officials arrested more than 2,200 people in a single day across the U.S.
Southern Indiana resident Kathy Collings said she’s concerned that people are being racially profiled and that she worries about people being denied due process.
“I don't want to see ICE in our [Southern Indiana] community,” she said. “I don't want to see an ICE facility in our community.”
Collings is an organizer with the recently formed advocacy group Do Something Southern Indiana. The group protested outside the Clark County courthouse for the second time last week, after an initial demonstration ahead of Mother’s Day.
“If we can be very vocal about being respectful of these individuals, maybe we can cut through some of this ‘they're all criminals, or they deserve to be treated the way they're being treated or shipped off to terrible prisons,’” she said.
There have been no specific reports of people from Clark County’s jail being moved to international facilities, like the one in El Salvador that’s received national attention.
Collings said the group has made unsuccessful attempts to get in contact with people in custody in Clark County to see how they’re doing.
The sheriff's office entered the agreement but the county gets the money. Collings said she worries the agreement promotes ongoing local detention.
“Should we be putting more pressure on the county government as to why they're taking these funds?” she said. “Obviously, it incentivizes them to take in these prisoners.”
Collings was among some residents who expressed concern about a lack of due process for the people in ICE detention.
Maples, the sheriff, responded in an interview with LPM News last week.
“I know they are [receiving due process],” he said. “They’re having court appearances. One made bond the other day.”
He said if he thought people weren’t being afforded due process, he could pull the sheriff’s office out of the agreement.
“I don't know where this narrative came [from] that nobody's getting any due process,” he said. “It's not coming from Clark County. I can tell you that.”
Coverage of Southern Indiana is funded, in part, by Samtec Inc., the Hazel & Walter T. Bales Foundation, and the Caesars Foundation of Floyd County.
