Josephine County terminates ICE contract, cites financial reasons

GRANTS PASS, Ore.– The Josephine County Jail is terminating it’s contract with ICE, but Sheriff Dave Daniel says it has nothing to do with the recent political controversy surrounding the federal agency.

Sheriff Daniel announced the move late Wednesday morning but said they ended the contract at the end of May. The sheriff says the jail, historically, has held two to five illegal immigrants who allegedly committed crimes in other areas of the West Coast and were being transported to other facilities.

“We would hold them for a short period of time and then they would move on to another facility,” said Daniel. “So I’m better able to serve Josephine County and it’s residents by utilizing those beds for our local inmate population.”

Thanks to the passage of a jail levy last year, they need the jail space for local criminals.

“If I can create a better environment for our citizens who provided us money in the form of a corrections levy to open up beds for our local population, that’s what we elected to do,” he said.

Sheriff Daniel says three lawsuits were filed against Oregon counties from ICE detainees in recent years and two of the counties had to pay in those cases.