ORLANDO, Fla. – Orange County is formally demanding the federal government pay the full reimbursement it owes for housing ICE immigration detainees in the county jail.
Last week, News 6 reported that the federal government owed the county an estimated $644,000, according to Orange County officials.
In a letter to the U.S. Marshals Service obtained by News 6, Mayor Jerry Demings wrote that he was “deeply concerned that the fiscal impact of these legislative mandates is being unfairly shouldered by the taxpayers of Orange County.”
Demings wrote the jail has seen an increasing number of ICE detainees, with over 5,000 inmates booked over the past eight months.
[WATCH: Orange County details costs for housing ICE inmates amid crackdown]
The compact that the county signed with the feds earlier this year shows the county is supposed to receive $88 per inmate held in the jail per day.
The county says it costs $180 a day to house an inmate in the jail. The difference between the two figures means county taxpayers are on the hook for $92 a day per inmate.
The federal government has not made any payments since July.
Demings’ letter says the county formally requested to renegotiate the Intergovernmental Services Agreement in August because of the increasing costs.
[WATCH: Orange County mayor pours cold water on plea from immigration advocates]
“This calculation is based upon the expense of providing a secure environment, as well as providing appropriate health care and access to the basic human needs experienced by an inmate in our facility,” Demings wrote.
Since sending that request in August, Demings says the county has housed an additional 3,626 ICE inmates. Demings says that, at the $92/day rate, those inmates alone cost the county $333,592.
“The burden of the expense related to immigration enforcement activities should be borne by the federal government, not local governments who’ve been forced to follow the law in support of your initiatives,” Demings wrote.
Demings signed the agreement with the federal government earlier this year after the passage of a state law compelling compliance, and pressure from Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier, who threatened to remove local government officials who did not sign the agreement.
However, the decision was met with outrage among immigration advocates and more liberal members of the county commission, who have since tried to convince Demings to rescind the agreement.
READ Demings’ full letter below.