Illinois Valley Times

Putnam County Jail officials have housed one illegal alien in the jail in the time period since July 1, 2021. 

The jail confirmed to Illinois Valley Times on Wednesday, May 8 that it has housed one illegal alien in response to a Freedom of Information Request. The jail estimated a cost of $50 for the holding, in which Mexico native Cecilio Martinez entered the jail September 8, 2023, and left the jail on September 9, 2023 when he was picked up by ICE. 

On Monday May 7, Illinois Valley Times asked the jail for a list of illegal alien inmates and the taxpayer cost of housing them. 

Putnam County Jail had 377 inmates in its general population as of May 15.

Illinois is a so-called “Sanctuary State.” In 2021, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a law barring police from reporting illegal alien crime to federal immigration officials, for fear they would be deported to their country of origin.

In March, the sheriff of Butler County, Ohio reported that his jail had housed 999 illegal aliens since July 1, 2021 at a cost of $1,757 per inmate, or $1.8 million to taxpayers.

An Oct. 2020 U.S. Department of Justice report estimated that, at the 2019, there were 51,074 “known or suspected” illegal aliens in U.S. federal jails and that the average cost to house a prisoner was $88.19 per day. The report found that housing illegal aliens in these jails costs U.S. taxpayers $4.5 million per day and $1.64 billion per year.