By Brian Wright | Maricopa Monitor
At a Pinal County Board of Supervisors meeting last week, the board voted to give the federal government one week to come to an agreement on a contract; the feds did not respond.
On Wednesday morning, County Manager Greg Stanley sent a notice of termination letter to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. It gives a 100-day notice for the cancellation of the contract by Pinal County; however, it does not preclude the two sides from continuing to negotiate the matter during that time period.
A contract was signed initially between the county and ICE in August 2006. It allowed ICE to house immigrant detainees at the Pinal County Adult Detention Center. In addition to paying the county a per diem rate for each detainee, the con- tract was supposed to cover the cost of a massive jail expansion.
In reality, the per diem rate of $59.64 is so low, it has cost the county millions of dollars in the years since. Also, the contract hasn’t paid for one cent of the jail’s expansion.
