Pres. Trump cancels Santa Ana’s ICE jail contract, costing the City $340K a month

There is a saying that the Santa Ana City Council should have kept in mind when they decided to antagonize President Donald Trumpmess with the bull, you get the horns. And that is exactly what just happened today as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that they will be terminating their Santa Ana jail contract in 90 days, according to a City of Santa Ana press release.

The Santa Ana City Council had announced last year their plan to terminate the ICE contract by 2020. And this year they voted to become a Sanctuary City – despite warnings that they would lose federal funding. Now that has happened and it is a total disaster.

Santa Ana’s decision in December to close one jail module results in a $663,743 annual net revenue loss and a full contract termination would create a $2 million hole annually, then-City Manager David Cavazos reported at the time. The city faces repaying about $24 million plus interest through 2024 for building the jail that it opened in 1997, according to the O.C. Register.

The Santa Ana City Jail currently receives approximately $340,000 per month in revenue from the ICE contract. The full operation of the jail includes 96 full-time and 20 part-time budgeted employees who assist in operating the jail facility.

That money is now gone – and those city employees will soon be without jobs because of our stupid City Council.

So what do the City Council members have to say for themselves?

“The City has been committed to expediting the termination of the ICE contract. Going forward, it is imperative that we make decisions that ensure sustainable City operations, including those at the existing jail facility,” noted Mayor Pro Tem Michele Martinez.

“In many ways, I’m more concerned with the financial and time hardships that will be created for local residents and their attorneys to visit family members or friends in ICE detention centers that will now be many hours away or in another state,” Councilman Jose Solorio told the Register.

The City Council shot themselves in the foot by taking on Trump and now we are all going to pay the price for it. Trust me – this is just the beginning. Pres. Trump will surely ask all of his Federal agencies to start canceling funds to our city. Santa Ana will lose millions in Federal funding thanks to our idiotic City Council.

The sad thing is that the real issue in our city is crime – and stopping the gangs. Now our city won’t have the money to do that. Our City Council decided to focus on immigration and stopping the food trucks instead of making our city safer – and we will all pay the price for their hubris.

You may email the City Council here.

Art Pedroza Editor
Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.
Art Pedroza

Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.

View Comments

  • Your idiot savant, Jose Solorio's comments say it all. He is much more concerned with the welfare of criminals and illegal aliens than he is with the welfare of the legitimate residents of Santa Ana. Nothing more than a pompadoured buffoon.

    • So true. I never liked him because hes f*cken patheic individual. He's another one that just wants to keep running for office no matter where its at to fill his pockets.

      He couldn't win state so he comes down to city council.

      And a lot of dumbass Mexicans vote for his ass.

      This so called sanctuary city just cost the $$$$ and alot more to come.

      The city is going to be in rhe hole next fiscal year. You guys wanted to play on the porch with the big dog.
      Now you got bite!!!

      How is the city council going to get those funds lost?

      I know, but f*cking the residents....

    • people are being racially profiled and im glad you express your racist opinions. it shows how stupid older generations are

  • I was afraid that something like this might happen. As the saying goes, "Look out, you might get what you wished for". :-(

  • By the looks of things Santa Ana, may be able to collect a few dollars from the tent dwellers who are camped out by the Court House. They should be ordered to pay anything they can, from welfare money or from can collecting. Santa Ana can do it without federal funding if they know what their doing with their control of the City and their law enforcers. Right

  • Welp, it is more like a $12m annual deficit. The jail was already running at a deficit. Looks like layoffs for the City. Residents are already affected by the lean workforce and now even more so.

  • You already took my words I was going to use to discribe the stupid idiots, oops, those are the words. I'll add fools for good measure.. Unbelievable!

  • F*CK TRUMP. WHAT A GREAT PRESIDENT HE IS AT WAR WITH US HE IS A DICTATOR F*CK HIM WE WILL STAND UP TO HIS BITCH AS THER ALWAYS CASUALTIES OFF WAR. WE ARE BEING ATTACKED BY ARE OWN PRESIDENT. THAT TO ME IS A DICTATOR. AND I HAVE MY COUNCIL MEMBERS OF SANTA ANA'S BACK FOR HAVING THE BALLS TO STAND UP TO DICTATOR TRUMP NOT LIKE ALL THEM LOSER'S IN WASHINGTON SCARED TO STAND UP TO A DICTATOR TRUMP . GREAT JOB SANTA ANA'S COUNCIL

  • The City "Fathers" seem to be "penny wise and dollar foolish". They seem to consistently make decisions that cost their citizens money. Anybody ever I.D. the fact that the homeowner and business fire insurance went up when they dumped their class 1 fire protection in favor of a Class 5 (as I remember it) provider. Maybe the insurance mob has not caught on yet but they will.

  • We have been fighting for months for the council to cancel contracts with ICE, I am not alobe when I say that this is a huge step forward for our city. We must maintain our sanctuary status in order to protect our silent majority who live in vonstant fear of unlawful deportation. The government can bully all they want, we will not back down.

    • Your city can't even afford to repair the streets or get gangs under control because people like you are too worried about your so-called "sanctuary city" status that the cities around you abhor. Get your head out of your ass, Erica. Or, are you one of the ones the city "must" protect?

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