AZ Governor wants to release immigrant criminals and deport back to country of
Posted on Tuesday, December 22 @ 10:43:28 EST
Topic: State Laws Immigration illegal legal
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 PHOENIX Saying more needs to be done to balance
the budget, Gov. Jan Brewer directed the early release of illegal
immigrants from state prisons who have committed serious crimes.
"Extraordinary times call for extraordinary action,'' the governor
said Monday in a speech Monday to her Cabinet, a meeting specifically
open to the media. Brewer said while the Legislature needs to do more
to resolve the current deficit a figure she put at $1.5 billion even
after a just approved $194 million fix she also needs to take unilateral
action.
Topics: illegal immigration, illegal immigrants, illegal aliens, crime, prison, ICE, deportation. early release, state budget
By Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services
Tuesday, December 22, 2009 8:53 AM MST
"It is the raw truth, filled with unpleasant facts and painful answers,'' she said of her plan.
One element requires the Department of Corrections to turn over to
Immigation and Customs Enforce any illegal immigrant inmate who is
within 90 days of his or her mandatory release date.
Some illegal immigrants already are eligible for deportation after
completing half of their sentences under a plan the state has used
since 2005. But that program is open only to those who have committed
minor felonies and are not repeat offenders.
Interim Corrections Director Charles Ryan, however, minimized the
risk of releasing about 400 inmates who were not eligible for the
halfsentence release. He said it simply shaves 90 days off from the
date that each would be required to be released anyway; this way could
save the state $1.9 million between now and July 1.
Anyway, Ryan said, most would be deported, though ICE could allow
some to stay in this country, possibly because they have families here.
But to ease legislative concerns, Brewer promised to work with
lawmakers to enact stiff penalties for those who reenter this country
illegally and commit new crimes.
Some other elements of what Brewer announced Monday may have little real effect:
Brewer wants "means testing'' for state programs to require a
showing of need. But state agency representatives told Capitol Media
Services that already is the case for virtually all services, the one
notable exception being help for the seriously mentally ill.
The governor ordered a cap on enrollment for a program that
provides subsidized child care for needy families. But that cap was put
in place in February, with more than 10,300 already on a waiting list.
Brewer said she "restating'' her directive that state agencies
provide benefits only to those in this country legally. That already is
law, with the Legislature tightening the statute a month ago.
She told state agencies to take money lawmakers gave them for
special programs and instead use those funds for core operations.
Authorization to move around that cash, however, already was granted to
agencies by the Legislature.
And the governor directed the Department of Administration to prepare rules to allow a 5 percent cut in pay for state workers.
But gubernatorial press aide Paul Senseman said Brewer is not
actually ordering such a move. Instead, it simply lets agencies make
those reductions which were authorized last week by the Legislature as
a moneysaving option.
Brewer, who read solely from a script, refused to take questions
afterwards about the plan or why she didn't mention her demand for
lawmakers to let voters decide whether to hike state sales taxes.
She also ignored a question of whether the open Cabinet meeting the
only open one of her 11month administration was staged to burnish her
image of being in command of the situation.
But there were political components to the event: In attendance
were Grant Woods and Mary Peters, the cochairs of her 2010 election
bid, and Doug Cole, a hired political consultant to the campaign.
Some things Brewer ordered Monday could have more effect.
She prohibited more families from enrolling in the Kids Care
program. It provides nearly free health care to about 47,000 children
of the working poor, families earning too much to qualify for free care
but below twice the federal poverty level, about $36,620 a year for a
family of three.
She also established a Privatization Commission to have outside
firms do the work now being performed by state employees. Done
properly, Brewer said, these contracts "will help the state reduce
operational costs, improve service delivery and quality, and lead to
innovation.''
Brewer also promised to bring together legislative leaders from
both her own Republican Party as well as the minority Democratic Party.
There were bipartisan talks this summer about resolving the budget
until the Democrats said they were no longer invited.
Separate from Brewer's speech, John Arnold, director of the
Governor's Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting, detailed the
rising costs of running government.
Since 2004, the state has added nearly 145,000 students boosting
the price tag of running public schools by more than $1 billion.
The prison population in the same time has ballooned by 11,600
inmates, to more than 40,000. And enrollment in the state's free health
care program is up 475,000 including 207,800 in the last year alone to
nearly 1.3 million as of last count.
But cuts cannot be made in to K12 education or universities because
the state accepted federal education stimulus dollars: If state funding
drops below 2006 levels where it is now the stimulus funds have to be
repaid.
And the state's acceptance of other stimulus dollars prohibits making it more difficult to qualify for free health care.
There is no prohibition against cutting prison costs. But lawmakers
have refused to alter sentencing laws to reduce the length of terms
that judges can impose.
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