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WEBER COUNTY -- The Weber County Sheriff's Office is searching for answers and money after Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed its detainees from the jail, pending a review.
The ordeal is becoming more expensive by the day. The sheriff's office budget includes the money from ICE, and it comes in at a rate of $55 per inmate per day. As of July 5, the 13 days without the 27 immigrant detainees at the Weber County jail has, through basic math, cost $19,305.
"We'll do the best to absorb that, and hope and wonder when this thing will be cleared up and find out if we ever will get ICE inmates back," Undersheriff Kevin McCleod said Tuesday.
We just don't understand and really aren't being given the answers as to why the inmates were pulled.
–- Kevin McCleod.
What is frustrating to the Weber County Sheriff's Office is the lack of answers coming from the federal agency. McCleod said he had learned of some minor issues but nothing on par with the removal of inmates - something considered a rare move.
"We just don't understand and really aren't being given the answers as to why the inmates were pulled," McCleod said.
In a statement supplied to KSL, ICE didn't offer any further explanation, saying:
"After careful deliberation, ICE's Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations decided to transfer the approximately 30 immigration detainees being held at the Weber County Jail to other local facilities. The transfers took place Wed., June 22. The relocation of the detainees will allow ICE ERO to conduct a thorough review of the Weber County Jail to ensure it is in full compliance with the agency's stringent national detention standards. While that review is underway, ICE's Intergovernmental Service Agreement with Weber County will remain in effect, but ICE detainees will be housed elsewhere."
For now, the inmates are being housed at the Utah County Jail at a daily rate of $75 per inmate. The Weber County Sheriff's Office is not anticipating layoffs, but McCleod acknowledged more serious remedies could be needed if the ordeal is protracted.
"If it's long term, we may be forced to make some changes to our structure," McCleod said.
Email:aadams@ksl.com
