Border counties want Feds to cover illegal immigrant costs

By Amy Isackson / Border Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published November 6, 2005 at 9:00 PM PST

This story was published more than 19 years ago.

Leaders from border counties are calling on the federal government for more money to cover the costs of prosecuting and incarcerating illegal immigrants. KPBS Reporter Amy Isackson has the story.

Leaders from border counties are calling on the federal government for more money to cover the costs of prosecuting and incarcerating illegal immigrants. KPBS Reporter Amy Isackson has the story.

Supervisor Greg Cox says San Diego County pays about $50 million annually for housing and prosecuting illegal immigrants. He says last year the federal government reimbursed the county for about just one-quarter of that.

Supervisor Cox says it's not enough.

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Cox: "It's literally pennies on the dollar that we're getting reimbursed for the costs of apprehension, incarceration, prosecution and defense of illegal immigrants."

The federal government has increased appropriations to cover jail costs by $100 millions next year to $405 million. However, states will pay about $13 billion.

Leaders from 24 border counties met in San Diego this past weekend. Amy Isackson, KPBS news.

Amy Isackson

Amy Isackson was the border reporter at KPBS from 2004 to 2011. She covered breaking news and feature stories on California-Mexico border issues and immigration, for local and national broadcast. Amy got her start in public radio by pitching a series of stories about rural New Zealand - horse dentistry and sheep sheering - to Radio New Zealand's "Country Life" program. She then worked with Peabody Award-winning radio producers Nikki Silva and Davia Nelson, to help create the Sonic Memorial, a series of stories on the World Trade Center before, during and after 9/11. Amy's work has been recognized with awards from the Associated Press Television-Radio Association of California and Nevada, the California Chicano News Media Association, and the San Diego Press Club. She won the Sol Price Prize for Responsible Journalism in 2009 from the Society of Professional Journalists for her story about high school students smuggling people and drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border. Prior to venturing into the wonderful world of public radio, Amy worked for Yahoo! Inc. for nearly five years as an editorial surfer, associate producer and broadcast communications manager. She majored in Latin American History at Williams College. She grew up in San Diego and made frequent trips south of the border.

See stories by Amy Isackson