By Brian Wright | Casa Grande Dispatch
Sheriff Paul Babeu and approximately 75 of his employees attended the Pinal County Board of Supervisors meeting Wednesday to urge the board to keep its jail contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, warning the board that possibly hundreds of jobs were at stake.
Pinal County has a contract with the federal agency to house some of ICE’s detainees at the Pinal County jail. Results of an audit, initiated by County Manager Fritz Behring, released earlier this year showed the county was losing approximately $2.5 million per year on the deal.
The board’s agenda item Wednesday regarded approval or disapproval for Behring to terminate the contract, which originally was signed in August 2006.
The supervisors in a 4-1 vote, with Republican Cheryl Chase against, decided to make one more attempt at renegotiating the contract with ICE, using all resources available — specifically the help of U.S. Reps. Paul Gosar, Ann Kirkpatrick and Ron Barber. The motion also allowed Babeu to be part of the discussions, with Behring as the main point of contact on all communications.
