Resident fellow in law and policy at Center for Immigration Studies Andrew Arthur said the federal government gives money to state localities in exchange for detaining immigrants, and it’s a benefit to the state’s localities that allow it.
"They provide good jobs to those states often in underprivileged areas. They help the states to sell excess detention space that otherwise would go unused," said Arthur.
He said some states aren't allowing ICE to set up or continue running detention centers for illegal immigrants to be housed in, while awaiting court dates on removal proceedings to be kicked out of the United States.
"Anti-ICE sentiment in a lot of localities, have forced ICE to have to house these individuals in more remote areas. That's simply a fact of life," said Arthur.
He said it's short-sighted local and state government policies that are preventing ICE from detaining illegal aliens.
He added ICE currently has about 51,000 illegals in detention.