The Orange County Commission will look at options Tuesday for its agreement with the U.S. Marshals Service under which the county holds federal inmates at the jail.
At issue is an Intergovernmental Service Agreement -- or IGSA -- with the U.S. Marshals Service established in 1983 and expanded 15 years ago. It's a money-losing proposition for Orange County.
On Friday, there were 75 inmates at the jail with an ICE hold and no local charges. There were 186 ICE detainees with local charges as well.
The reimbursement rate is $88 a day per inmate, but officials put the actual cost at $180.
County officials did not provide an estimate of the actual overall cost, but based on the average daily head count for each month and the $180 cost per inmate, housing just those detainees without local or other criminal charges cost Orange County about $2.7 million. (The $88 reimbursement adds up to $1.3 million.)
The county has received $1 million related to ICE inmates housed in the jail last year, according to an email from the Orange County Corrections Department.
The county has been trying to renegotiate the IGSA since August. Mayor Jerry Demings initially set a March 13 deadline to finish negotiations with the Marshals Service.
In a memo to commissioners earlier this month, Demings said he extended the deadline to March 31 but refused to extend it to the end of April.
Demings wrote that his deadline was firm but the county would continue negotiations until this week's meeting "in order for us to have the full breadth and most current information necessary."
The commission plans to discuss the IGSA and consider its options. In an earlier letter to the Marshals Service, Demings identified termination of the IGSA as one of their options.
And over the past year, many residents concerned about the Trump administration's treatment of immigrants have urged commissioners to terminate the agreement.
