County Correctional Facility Home to ICE Detainees

WAYNE TOWNSHIP – As has been the case in recent years, the Clinton County Correctional Facility serves as an interim home for men picked up by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, a division of the US Department of Homeland Security.

ICE has been in the news headlines in recent weeks with its work in dealing with the immigrant crises at the United States southern border.

According to Clinton County Commissioner Jeff Snyder, despite all the headlines and attention to ICE work at the border, the local prison has not seen any surge in its ICE placements. He said the average number of ICE detainees in May was 60 and the average length of stay was 14 days. The preliminary report from June was an average daily number of 49 detainees with an average stay of 10 days. Over the last year, he said, only male ICE prisoners have been housed in Wayne Township.

The county receives $75 per day per ICE inmate stay. That income source helps lessen the county bottom line, Snyder told The Record: “We are doing our best to manage the number of per diems that we have so we lessen the financial burden on our local tax payers.” And he added, “We do not allow the political atmosphere of our nation to dictate the type of detainees we choose to hold. Our first priority is the safety to our community.”

A CCCF spokesman said the federal detainees are housed according to custody level, based on the charges against them, how they are adjusting to their temporary quarters and their behavior. Relative to those who are detained locally and where they come from, therecord-online attempted to contact a regional ICE communications director but so far has not met with success.