Jailing immigrants expensive

In a plea agreement, a 26-year-old immigrant from Mexico, in the country illegally, agrees to plead guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and will be sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole.

According to Idaho Department of Correction data for fiscal year 2014, the annual cost to incarcerate this man will be just under $21,000 per year. Assuming he lives another 40 years, to the age of 66, the total cost to Idaho taxpayers will be near or over S1 million, factoring a modest inflation increase to the annual cost.

Why should any taxpayer, from any state, be expected to carry this financial burden? It is certainly not a stretch to imagine that this will not be the first illegal immigrant to be incarcerated, at taxpayer’s expense, in Idaho or any other state.

When do we say enough? Millions of dollars being spent each year on this while our veterans are underserved, too many of our children are hungry, and thousands are homeless. Not sure what the solution is, but we should not be silent on this issue. Perhaps Trump can fix it.

Jeff Kilgore

Deer Park