About four months since the first group of federal detainees arrived at the Freeborn County jail in June, the number of inmates being held and circulated as part of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agreement is continuing to grow.

Freeborn County Administrator John Kluever said the agreement with ICE officials, which was made official in March, is for up to 80 inmates at any given time. While it has been rare to obtain that full quota thus far, it has been reached a few times, he said.

The detainees, who have been living in the United States without documentation, are staying in Freeborn County for an average of 45 days or less, he added. Some have committed crimes; some haven’t.

The jail is serving ICE for southern Minnesota, northern Iowa and surrounding areas as needed.

“They are all dealing with immigration issues of some form or another,” Kluever said.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays detainees are transported to court hearings, and on Wednesdays, detainees who are ready to be deported to their native countries are taken to the airport.

Kluever said there has been little if any difficulties reported by staff.

“It’s doing what we hoped it would do,” he said. “It helped fill some beds up in the jail.”

It is boosting the number of inmates in the jail toward its 122-person capacity, while at the same time providing Freeborn County a reimbursement of about $77 per day per detainee held in the facility.

The Freeborn County administrator noted that the number of local inmates in the jail is remaining low at this point — usually around 30.

Up until recently, female inmates were being transported to the Steele County jail for about $65 a day so that the female wing of the jail could be fully utilized by male detainees.

Kluever said even on a high day, only six out of probably 24 or 27 beds in the female wing were being used.

When the number of local female inmates goes down to only one or two, those women stay in the Freeborn County jail and are usually kept in isolation rooms, separate from the men.