By Brian Wright | Maricopa Monitor
A contract Pinal County had with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that was losing millions annually for the county is one Sheriff Paul Babeu now says was a financial golden goose for Pinal.
The contract, originally signed in August 2006, stipulated that ICE inmates detained for immigration offenses would be housed at the Pinal County jail in Florence. The county received $59.64 per detainee each day from the federal government to house the detainees, but that rate didn’t come close to covering the cost of keeping those detainees at the jail.