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VEGAS INC CITY PAID MILLIONS TO HOUSE IMMIGRANT DETAINEES, BUT CENTER COMING UNDER FIRE DETAINEES, From page 1 With an average detainee population of more than 200 per day, the Henderson Detention Center has been Nevada's primary facility for housing federally detained immigrants since early 2011, according to ICE documents. The federal contract has been a windfall for the city, with annual revenue of $10 million to $11 million. The contract has generated annual profits of $5 million to $6 million, which go into the city's general fund. A recent UNLV report found that the detention center has failed to comply with federal standards and procedures, including reasonable access to medical care and legal assistance. After conducting interviews with dozens of immigrant detainees at the facility, the authors are calling for an independent review of the city jail. Officials from ICE and Henderson say the jail is routinely inspected and always has been found in compliance. Henderson's take is just a fraction of the $2 billion in federal taxpayer dollars spent annually on immigrant detention. While a piecemeal approach to reforming immigration enforcement has led to some efficiencies and alternative methods of monitoring immigrants, advocates say millions in tax dollars are wasted each year on detaining immigrants, the majority of who have no criminal convictions and no legal representation. ••• Fleeing gang violence and extortion in El Salvador, Martinez illegally crossed into Texas from Mexico in 2006. He was unaware that he could have applied for asylum. Border Patrol agents apprehended him and released him with a court summons in Texas. He says he did not fully understand what had happened. After failing to show for the court hearing, Martinez was deported in absentia. He moved to Los Angeles, then Las Vegas and wed Blanca Canales in 2011. Now married to a U.S. citizen who could petition for his legal residency, Martinez wanted to verify he had no outstanding tickets or legal matters that would doom the application and in March went to the Metro station to inquire. Metro notified ICE. Because of the 16 20131216_VI01_F.indd 16 L.E. BASKOW DETAINED: Anna Ledesma, a Filipina immigrant and College of Southern Nevada graduate, has applied for deferred action for childhood arrivals. In 2011, she spent almost two weeks in the Henderson Detention Center. outstanding deportation order against Martinez, Metro was legally mandated to take him into custody. Martinez, 32, spent 15 days in the Henderson jail, which started taking in hundreds of immigrant detainees in February 2011 after a $29 million expansion. Martinez says he lost 15 pounds, shared a two-person cell with three people and was pressured to sign documents he didn't understand. Henderson expanded its city jail with the express purpose of generating revenue via federal contracts. Nationally, the overwhelming majority of immigrant detainees are housed in state, local or private facilities. ICE, which operates just a handful of its own facilities, argues the flexibility provided in contracted facilities works to the agency's advantage. ICE is charged an average of $120 per day for each immigrant detained in a contracted facility. The Henderson jail, at a daily rate of $102 per person, is a bargain for ICE. Last year, the jail's average daily population of 254 immigrant detainees made it the 40th-busiest detention center in the country. The contracts are managed through the U.S. Marshals Service. The Washoe County Jail is the only other site in the state where ICE places immigrant detainees. The average daily population of detainees there is 17. Henderson detainees report an array of concerns. Immigrants claim they were threatened, berated and forced to sign documents. Their access to legal help is obstructed and medical complaints are ignored, they said. Furthermore, the UNLV report argues problems outlined in a 2011 U.S. Office of Detention Oversight report on the jail have yet to be rectified. The authors joined immigration reform advocates at a protest outside the detention center. The UNLV team also plans to ask the Henderson City Council for a formal review of the facility. ••• When Andy Hafen became Henderson mayor in 2009 after 22 years on the City Council, the city faced a budget shortfall of $90 million. Before the onset of the recession in 2007, immigrant detention was rapidly expanding. Reforms passed in 1996 and again after 9/11 mandated detention for more immigration violations. State laws and federal initiatives ramped up enforcement. Between 1995 and 2009, ICE expanded its detention capacity by 400 percent. By 2012, about 400,000 immigrants were detained. In Henderson, the recession brought to a halt most of the city's capital improvement projects. The detention center expansion, with its promise to generate revenue, moved forward. "Even during the downturn, the city continued to expand and grow," city spokesman Bud Cranor said. "We were planning for what our needs would be in the future." On Feb. 10, 2011, the detention center's new wing opened, adding 250 beds to the existing 293. According to annual budget reports, revenue has gone up from $3.4 million in fiscal 2009-2010 to more than $11 million in 2012-2013. ICE immediately started filling beds, some with immigrants with criminal records. ••• Detainee Anna Ledesma had never encountered law enforcement. Ledesma came to the United States from the Philippines at age 7. Her legal residency was tied to her father's work visa. But Ledesma became estranged from her father. She ended up staying in the United States with family in Las Vegas, where she grew up and graduated with a nursing degree from the College of Southern Nevada. Her visa lapsed, however, a civil violation under immigration law. On Aug. 21, 2011, after a night out in San Diego, Ledesma and her friends returned to a military base on Coronado Island, where a father of one of the young women was stationed. Military police asked for identification, and, when Ledesma produced a passport but no current visa, they called Border Patrol. Detention centers in San Diego were full. After a 21-hour plane trip from Southern California with stops in El Paso, Texas; Mesa, Ariz.; and Colorado Springs, Colo., Ledesma wound up booked into the Henderson jail. Most of the other immigrant women were from Southern California, far from friends, family and familiar attorneys. Ledesma was locked up for almost two weeks. Her case later was dismissed, and she is now applying for deferred action for childhood arrivals. Marlen Garcia, who was transported with Ledesma to the Henderson jail, says she was picked up in her Hispanic San Diego neighborhood while headed to a restaurant with family and friends. After spending two months in Henderson, at a taxpayer cost of more than $6,000, Garcia was released. She has since been granted a work permit under deferred action. | 16 DECEMBER 2013 | 12/12/13 4:00:37 PM

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