Beds For Feds - Orange County Sheriff's Seeks To Fill Immigration Bed Gap

MISSION VIEJO, CA — The Orange County Sheriff's Department is set Tuesday to ask the county Board of Supervisors for permission to add 120 beds to rent to the federal government for immigration detainees.

The move would boost the capacity in Orange County's jails from 838 to 958 beds through July 19, 2020.

The so-called "beds for feds" program started in 2010, at a time when the sheriff's department was forced to do so much budget cutting that the extra revenue was perceived as a godsend.

The contract with the federal government was extended for another five years in July 2015.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in February announced it would end its contract with Santa Ana to house detainees in the Santa Ana jail. It is not clear if that move was linked to the increase in the program with the county, but Orange County sheriff's Lt. Lane Lagaret, a department spokesman, said ICE approached the department about the increased need for beds.

From the program's inception in August 2010 through the following June, the federal government paid $26.9 million to house immigration detainees in county jails. The county billed the federal government $33.3 million in the 2011-12 fiscal year, $29.5 million in the 2012-13 fiscal year, $22.8 million in the 2014-15 fiscal year and $31.3 million in the 2015-16 fiscal year.

County officials anticipate raking in about $5 million more if all the beds are rented.

Tom Dominguez, president of the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, the union that represents District Attorney investigators and deputies, praised the expansion of the program.

"We are supportive of the proposed contract," Dominguez said. ``We have the beds, they have the money. That's a good thing for Orange County taxpayers."

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