It’s all part of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office’s agreement with the federal agency, which tasks the county with holding immigration inmates for ICE as they move across the country.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – Knox County’s agreement with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has cost taxpayers almost $130,000 since January, according to invoices obtained by WVLT News.
It’s all part of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office’s agreement with the federal agency, which tasks the county with holding immigration inmates for ICE as they move across the country. Those inmates aren’t in Knox County long — usually only a handful of days — but the costs are adding up.
The agreement is also voluntary, and the office has no legal requirement to house detainees for ICE.
What are KCSO’s responsibilities under the agreement with ICE?
Knox County participates in the 287(g) program, which offers federal dollars in exchange for helping ICE enforce U.S. immigration laws. Knox County’s agreement follows the Jail Enforcement Model, meaning the jail is often housing inmates brought from across the country, not necessarily inmates from Knox County or even Tennessee.
Under the contract, ICE is responsible for training Knox County personnel how to handle immigration detainees. Other than that, it’s up to Knox County to pay for all other expenses, like salaries, transportation, equipment and jail supplies used to carry out the contract.
Does Knox County make money from the contract?
ICE pays the county a fee for each day they house an inmate, but KCSO told WVLT News the fee doesn’t cover the cost of keeping the inmates in the jail.
The sheriff’s office’s public information officer, Kimberly Glenn, provided some numbers from the office’s finance department. She said it costs, on average, around $140 per day to house an inmate in Knox County’s jail. The latest 287(g) agreement promises the county $114 per day, per inmate: a net-negative of $26.
Glenn also confirmed to WVLT News that the sheriff’s office also technically loses money for each inmate, saying “a small amount, yes.”
On top of that, the invoices show the latest agreement only went into place in March. Before then, the sheriff’s office was only getting $83 per day, per inmate.
The difference in cost, Glenn said, comes from KCSO’s adopted budget. According to those invoices, the last few months of costs to the county have broken down like this:
Cost to Knox County for housing ICE inmates
The difference between how much ICE pays Knox County to house inmates and how much it costs to house those inmates.
It totals to $159,676 in taxpayer dollars being spent on housing ICE detainees since October. The county spent $128,212 of that just this year.
The total cost of housing inmates comes from KCSO’s adopted budget, Glenn said, and the money from ICE goes into the county’s general fund.
She also said Sheriff Tom Spangler had no plans to discontinue the contract.
Immigration detainee numbers are on the rise
Knox County’s immigration detainee numbers have spiked in the last several months. Records obtained by WVLT News showed that Knox County booked 60 immigration detainees in October of 2024. In April, that number had jumped to almost 400.
In January, Knox County Sheriff Tom Spangler addressed the spike, saying it was due to an increase in nationwide immigration enforcement.
“There has been a recent ‘increase’ in our ICE hold numbers- KCSO’s Corrections Division has a contract to house inmates for ICE just as we do for the US Marshals,” Spangler said at the start of the year. “The recent increase in numbers is due to housing ICE inmates who are being transported from one location to another.”
Most inmates only spend a few days in the jail before being handed back over to ICE. The data showed that most inmates in recent months have spent a week or less in Knox County’s jail.
Glenn also said there are no worries about the increase in detainees putting strain on the sheriff’s office’s budget. +
How could a new Tennessee law change the numbers?
A new state law signed by Gov. Bill Lee in February that went into effect on July 1 has set the stage for funneling state dollars to local governments who participate in 287(g) contracts.
SB 6002/HB 6001 requires the state to establish an account to fund grants that will be dolled out to agencies helping ICE. Those dollars will be restricted, and will only fund training, equipment and activities related to immigration enforcement.
Any local government that receives the grant will also have to report to the state how the money is being spent and what impact the bump in immigration enforcement has had on local crime.
There’s no word on how much each grant will be.
Story courtesy of WVLT
