With U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement facilities now over capacity nationwide, officials in President Trump’s administration are appealing to local law enforcement for help.
As of Tuesday, the agency was holding nearly 42,000 migrant detainees, putting detention facilities at 109% capacity. The first group of migrant detainees arrived on Tuesday at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, which Mr. Trump plans to make a large scale detention center.
At the National Sheriff Association’s winter conference this month, Tom Homan, the administration’s border czar, asked for local law enforcement’s assistance when it comes to detaining migrants.
“So I hope all you sheriffs in the room, we need your bed space,” Homan said. “We need that force multiplier.”
But law enforcement officials from both political parties told CBS News they’re short-staffed, short of funds and short of space.
Sheriffs share resource concerns
“I’ve been overcrowded. I need a new jail,” said Sheriff Gabe Morgan, of Newport News, Virginia, who added he doesn’t have any detention beds available for the Trump administration to utilize.
Top White House officials recently met to brainstorm the expansion of a post-9/11 program that allows deputies and officers nationwide to partner with ICE, helping to investigate and detain more non-citizens.
Sheriff Kandy Fatheree said she can’t afford to have any of her personnel deputized as immigration officers. Fatheree is the sheriff in Summit County, Ohio.
“I’m already 32 deputies down,” she said. “There’s no police department that I know in this nation that is at full capacity and turning people away.”
On top of the recruitment challenges, some law enforcement officials say other costs are piling up.
In Brooks County, Texas, rough terrain and scorching heat killed 129 migrants in 2012, while mounting autopsy and burial costs left the county with $700,000 of debt, according to Sheriff Urbino Martinez.
“So we’re still trying to recover that,” Martinez said. “You know, we had to lay off people, we had to cut down on our salaries.”
Addressing the issues
The sheriffs who spoke with CBS News said they placed blame on both parties for failing to address the issues.
“Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. This should’ve been fixed by Congress. I can’t put it on a Republican or a Democrat. I’m putting it on all of them,” Morgan said.
Some said they’re willing to help, but they’ll need assistance themselves.
“The sheriffs across this country are standing ready, but it’s going to take time, and it’s going to take resources, and it’s going to take money,” Kieran Donahue, of Canyon County, Idaho, said.
Meanwhile, some say they feel they have exhausted their resources.
“American sheriffs, we’re doing everything that we can, but there’s only so much that we can do,” said Fatheree.
