Yesterday McHenry County Blog pointed readers to the Chicago Sun-Times article about the money received from the Federal government for housing illegal aliens.

The entrance to the McHenry County Jail.

In it, newly-elected McHenry County Board member Carlos Acosta is indirectly quoted as saying, “asked whether the contract is worth the money it brings in..”

Then, in a direct quote, Acosta asks, “It’s been a divisive issue because it raises the question, is there a profit motive when the county sheriff is making traffic stops?”

And, “Over the last two years, ICE has really been weaponized. Do we really want to be part of that weaponized system?”

The rest of the article cites the cost if running the operation and opinions of those who seem to think ICE detention centers should not exist.

The rest of the article referring to Acosta follows:

“Immigration policy is now county policy and county policy is now immigration policy,” Acosta said.

Acosta recognizes the county is reliant on the income from ICE, but said there should be greater oversight.

“I have to be cognizant of the fiscal impact of terminating any program, but again, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with at least asking those questions and getting data on that,” he said.

“I’ve had the opportunity to visit other detention centers around Illinois and the conditions were pretty poor. … That’s the other side of the argument, if we close the facility and we continue down this road to indefinite detention, are we going to put these immigrants in a worse situation?”

At the League of Women Voters forum this is what Acosta said when asked whether candidates supported the used of the Jail as an ICE detention center.

Acosta answered first.

He said it had been “controversial for the last twenty years.”

Continuing, Acosta said, “I don’t know enough about it to know whether to support or not.

“If treated respectfully I’d like to have it remain here.”

He told of visiting detention centers where those behind bars were not treated well.