The Mahoning County Jail is assisting the Trump Administration's efforts to deport those allegedly in the country illegally. The Mahoning County Sheriff's Office has agreed to a contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to hold ICE inmates.

The jail in Youngstown will take in a maximum of about 100 to 150 ICE inmates at a time. That number will vary because ICE inmates will only be held if the jail has enough space, which Sheriff Jerry Greene said they have right now. 

“These federal inmates will never take the place of our local Mahoning County inmates here,” Sheriff Greene said. “I wouldn't put up with that, I wouldn't tolerate it.”

The inmates come from across the country, detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after being suspected of illegally entering or staying in the U.S. 

Sheriff Greene said he offered up his jail space after President Trump was elected since he made promises on the campaign to deport those here illegally.

“We already have the infrastructure there. Whether we have a housing unit with 35 inmates in it or 50 inmates in it it’s still going to take the same person to watch them. The building has to be heated, the medical staff is there…we get inspected multiple times a year so these people are well taken care of here,” Sheriff Greene said.

The jail gets paid $125 per ICE inmate per day. That money will go into the criminal justice fund and will essentially be a bonus to the sales tax which supports Mahoning Counties’ sheriff office, prosecutor, corner and dispatchers.

“With inflation and if we went into a recession or anything like that we would have this money also put away in a rainy day fund so we don't have to go back to the taxpayer,” Sheriff Greene said.  

As of Thursday, the jail was housing 95 ICE inmates. This isn’t the first time the jail has held those accused of being in the country illegally. Sheriff Greene said from 2007 to 2009 they also housed ICE inmates. He added that they currently also house federal inmates for the U.S. Marshal's office.

The ICE inmates typically spend 45 to 60 days in the Mahoning jail before being deported. 

It’s unclear when the jail will stop housing ICE inmates.

“Do I think it's going to last long? Probably not,” Sheriff Greene said.