Rio Arriba jail director rejects ICE requests for immigration holds

Following Congress’ efforts to stall immigration legislation and President Barack Obama’s recent statement that he will delay his promised executive order to overhaul the country’s immigration policies until after Election Day, county jails across the country, including in New Mexico, have shifted their positions on helping federal authorities deport undocumented immigrants.

Most recently, officials with Bernalillo County, New Mexico’s most populous county, said the Metropolitan Detention Center would not hold inmates solely on the basis of a federal immigration detainer. In June, the Doña Ana County Detention Center also announced it would not honor the detainers.

Pablo Sedillo, director of the Santa Fe County jail, has said his staff does not honor immigration detainers unless an inmate is suspected of a serious crime. But in light of recent decisions by other counties in New Mexico, Santa Fe County officials plan to revisit the current policy, said Kristine Mihelcic, a spokeswoman for the county.

An ICE spokeswoman did not immediately reply to messages seeking comment.

DeYapp said part of the reason why he changed the policy in Rio Arriba County is because he believes any person, regardless of immigration status, who is accused of committing a crime has the right to go through the criminal justice system.

“I come in here and do the job that I’m suppose to do, and one of them is to ensure that due process is followed,” DeYapp said.

DeYapp said before he was informed of the federal ruling in March, his jail would notify immigration authorities of inmates who were suspected of being in the country illegally. ICE would ask him to hold the inmate for up to 48 business hours so the agency could determine if the inmate could be removed from the country.

The New Mexico Association of Counties notified the state’s 33 counties about the March ruling on immigration detainers. And at a June meeting between the association and representatives of various counties, officials with some detention centers decided to ignore the detainers.

“This is not an indictment about whatever the [immigration] policy should be,” said Grace Phillips, general counsel for the New Mexico Association of Counties. “It’s about what’s the responsible thing for counties to do given the information they have and the fiscal consequences.”

DeYapp said another reason why he changed his policy was to be able to save taxpayers’ money. He said he runs his jail on a $4 million annual budget, and federal authorities do not reimburse him for detaining an inmate longer than he is otherwise required to do. It costs about $79 a day to house an inmate and about $150 day for an inmate with medical problems, he said.

“The faster we get them out of here, the better,” he said.

DeYapp, who has been the jail director since 2009, said the jail houses between five and 12 people annually who are suspected of being undocumented immigrants.

Immigration policy experts say the issue might wind up in the U.S. Supreme Court.

“This is kind of made for it,” said Daniel Chand, a New Mexico State University professor who studies immigration enforcement policies. “We’re seeing power of the states versus power of the federal government.”

There were a total of 3,196 immigration detainers on New Mexico inmates for fiscal years 2012 and 2013, according to data analyzed by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. Out of that number, 61 percent of those inmates had not been convicted of any crime when ICE placed a detainer on the inmates, the data say.

Tomás Campos, the Rio Arriba County manager, said his administration and the county’s three commissioners fully support DeYapp’s new policy. Campos said the commission is scheduled to vote on a resolution supporting the policy at a Sept. 25 meeting.