Henderson’s review of its contract with the federal government that allows immigrants to be detained at the city jail could still be weeks away from being finished, according to a top city official.
City Manager Stephanie Garcia-Vause told the Las Vegas Review-Journal after a Henderson City Council meeting in April that she hopes the city will be able to share the findings of its review of its detention services agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement within the next six weeks.
Garcia-Vause said part of the reason the review has taken several months is because the city has never separated costs related to ICE detainees versus non-ICE inmates.
“That’s what’s been adding to the complexity,” Garcia-Vause said while exiting the dais after the April 21 meeting. “When we take a look at a staff person, they might be able to be supervising multiple areas, so we’ve never had it broken down. That’s what’s taking a little while. I expect us to have something within the next, maybe, month to six weeks.”
Garcia-Vause added the review has also come while the city works to publish its fiscal year 2027 budget and has also just wrapped up collective bargaining talks with the Henderson Police Department supervisors’ union.
“We ask our employees to do a lot,” Garcia-Vause said. “And getting through contract negotiations and then the budget so we get some of our best minds working on other things, and so that’s why it’s taking us a little longer.”
Henderson’s public information office said after a Jan. 20 City Council meeting the ICE agreement was being evaluated by senior city leadership and council members after dozens of Henderson residents and pro-immigration advocates urged the city not to cooperate with President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.
The city to date has provided little information showing whether the agreement benefits the city or costs it money, in part because they won’t say how much it costs to house an ICE detainee.
City not granting interviews during review
Prior to Garcia-Vause’s comments, the city’s public information office declined multiple interview requests to discuss the city’s agreement with ICE. An April 16 email from the city’s public information office said city personnel would not participate in interviews regarding the review while it’s in progress and that doing so would be “premature.”
The detention agreement has been in place since 2010 and allows for ICE and other federal agencies to house detainees at the Henderson Detention Center. City spokesperson Madeleine Skains told the Review-Journal in February the city’s review of the federal agreement was initiated to ensure it continues “to align with the City’s operational needs, legal obligations and overall best interests.” Skains added the review spans multiple city departments.
Earlier this month, Henderson public records officer Gina Waters said in an email the city does not maintain records that separate salaries or detention center operating costs by agency, which she said made it difficult for the city to isolate costs incurred specifically by the ICE agreement.
“Our systems are not structured to track information in an ICE-specific manner, which makes it challenging to extract records in the format requested or to present a complete picture of ICE-related enforcement activity,” Waters said in an April 2 email.
Medical transports for ICE detainees
While it’s not publicly known whether the city makes, or loses, money off its agreement with ICE, Henderson has spent tens of thousands of dollars on medical transports for ICE detainees in recent years, according to records provided by the city.
Henderson said it cost an average of about $275 per day to house an inmate at the city jail in 2025. According to an updated 2021 version of the agreement, ICE and other federal agencies can house up to 250 inmates in exchange for reimbursing Henderson $135 per detainee per day — a difference of $140 from the $275 per-day cost provided by the city.
In 2025, Henderson received $3.5 million from its agreement with the federal government, which equated to about 10.4 percent of the $33.6 million it cost to run the jail last year, according to records previously obtained from the city.
From Sept. 20, 2023, to Jan. 15, Henderson made upward of three dozen hospital transports for ICE detainees, said records provided by the city on April 2. The records did not show the number of medical transports provided before Sept. 20, 2023.
The city also provided records that showed the city spent $84,746.57 on payroll costs for ICE-related hospital transports from June 3, 2021, through March 5 of this year, which Waters said includes overtime only and not regular pay.
“Regular pay is not tracked by assignment type and therefore cannot be separated out,” Waters said.
In a Feb. 26 message, Waters said part of the difficulty in separating costs for ICE detainees versus non-ICE detainees is because many costs, such as those associated with inspections, transportation and staffing are already incorporated into the per-day housing cost for all inmates.
“All individuals in our custody receive the same level of care and services regardless of the originating agency, so separating out ICE-specific costs without duplicating or misinterpreting expenses requires additional review,” Waters said.
Contact Casey Harrison at charrison@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Casey_Harrison1 on X.
