Ca-Lawmaker wants feds to help with Illegal Inmates

California has thousand of prisoners and many of them are illegal immigrants. And, taxpayers are paying a huge price to keep those inmates behind bars.

It's a costly problem and taxpayers are footing the bill.

State Representative Tim Donnelly of Hesperia says the federal government needs to help California with the financial burden of undocumented prisoners.

More than 10% of California prisoners are illegal immigrants. And, to keep them here is costing taxpayers millions of dollars.

It's a problem Assemblyman Tim Donnelly addressed at the state capitol.

"Twelve and a half thousand of these prisoners are specifically from Mexico and we work out something with them, that they can build a prison in their own country and we allocate some funds for it."

Instead of a cost of $50,000 per prisoner per year, Connelly says it could cost $10,000 per prisoner per year in Mexico.

"We give them a financial incentive so that they have to stay in prison."

Right now, California is paying far more than what the federal government reimburses.

Taxpayers are shelling out $885 million for an estimated 17,000 undocumented prisoners, costing the state $52,000 per inmate per year.

In turn, the feds will reimburse about 5% of that, only $2,600 per inmate per year.

Even Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood says what to to with illegal immigrant prisoners is a tough call.

"The illegals? If we have someone who is in custody and in state prison and they're an illegal chances are it's a very serious crime. To just deport them, to empty that bed, will put them in Mexico on Tuesday and back on our streets on Thursday.

Donnelly says deportation is not the answer without a close working relationship with the other country. He says the U.S. Attorney's office should enforce what's already on the books to discourage deported criminals from coming back.

Donnelly adds the federal government should handle the problem with stiffer sentences like federal prison for 15 years for breaking the law, then re-entering the country and breaking the law again.
http://www.kget.com/news/local/story/La ... ViIlg.cspx

Undocumented immigrants are federal responsibility, local lawmakers say
By Mediha Fejzagic DiMartino Staff Writer
Posted: 05/26/2011 09:48:43 PM PDT
Updated: 05/26/2011 10:35:29 PM PDT


In the light of the U.S. Supreme Court decision mandating release of 33,000 criminals in the next two years, two lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are urging the federal government to intervene.

Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Hesperia, this week sent a "2010 invoice" for $885,039,426 to President Barack Obama asking him to pay up or take custody of 17,000 illegal immigrants from state prisons.

"This is a catastrophe in the making," said Donnelly, who also represents Claremont and La Verne. "They are a federal responsibility. This is a way for us to cut our damage in half and to protect California.

Skipping the political theatrics, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein has also sought the reimbursement from the federal government through a reauthorization bill. It would provide $950 million for each of the fiscal years 2012 through 2015 to carry out the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program.

SCAAP, administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, provides federal payments to states and localities for correctional officers' salaries for incarcerating illegal criminal aliens.

In 2010, SCAAP doled out a roughly $400 million to 850 cities, counties and states, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, a nonpartisan research organization.

California is the nation's biggest recipient of SCAAP funds.

"The state has spent over $885 million to house these inmates, but last year we got reimbursed only $88 million," Donnelly said. "That's less than 10 cents for every dollar spent."

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation holds in custody 16,829 inmates who are under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold.

An additional 3,844 are under "potential" ICE hold - deemed possible illegal entrants who have not come into contact with Department of Homeland Security and have no record in the federal database.

Of those on an ICE hold, 1,042 are serving time for first- degree murder, 1,912 for robbery and 616 for rape.

The California Institution for Men in Chino houses 292 illegal immigrants on ICE holds and another 119 inmates with potential holds.

California Institution for Women also in Chino, houses 67 inmates with ICE holds and 34 with a potential holds.

At California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, 469 inmates have ICE holds - every fourth person jailed. Another 97 have potential holds.

In addition to those housed at state prisons, county jails across the state take care of 12,031 inmates who will be turned over to ICE for deportation upon completion of their sentence.

Last year, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department booked 4,050 inmates who had ICE holds. From January to April of this year, another 1,132 were added.

Making a bad situation worse is Obama's proposal to cut funding for inmates with potential ICE holds, Donnelly said.

In fiscal year 2012, "The president's budget request for SCAAP includes a requirement that payments only be made for costs associated with DHS verified, criminal aliens," according to the Bureau of Justice Assistance. "To prepare for this change, SCAAP jurisdictions are strongly encouraged to work closely with DHS to increase inmate alien status verifications."

In his letter to Obama, Donnelly stated that it now falls on the president to protect the people of California.

"We are working and will continue to work to restore our prison conditions, but we will not accept an order that sacrifices the safety and security of Californians in the process," Donnelly said.

"It is past time to either fully fund the SCAAP or take the illegal-immigrant inmates into federal custody for the duration of their sentences. The hypocrisy must end."

Perhaps the feds are listening.

A correctional institution in Adelanto is on its way to becoming a federal holding facility that will temporarily house mostly illegal immigrants and bring about 150 jobs to Adelanto, officials said last week.

The city sold the 650-bed facility to Florida-based GEO Group in June 2010 for

$28 million. The company then negotiated a contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, with the city acting as the transaction's agent, to turn the jail into a holding facility for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, city officials said.

"This facility is essentially for anybody that ICE has to hold," Adelanto City Manager Jim Hart said. "Most of these inmates will be immigration holds."

Because of the Supreme Court ruling, the state has until June 6 to submit a report advising the three-judge panel whether it has obtained the necessary legislative approval to implement the November 2009 plan to reduce the number of inmates.

Although details of the report are not available, one part of the plan is to discharge from parole illegal aliens who have been deported by the federal government, according to Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the CDCR.

"Before, they would come back (into the country) and make contact with the law enforcement and be in violation of their state parole when they should have been dealt with by the federal government," Thornton said. "By entering illegally, they violate federal law."

http://www.contracostatimes.com/califor ... ck_check=1

I live in Ca and I have to say this is pretty funny to me! I've been reading about how Ca wants to opt out of secure comunitites and all the sanctuary cities here and now they expect the feds to pay! Actually when the feds stop paying that's when we need to send them back! I see now its greed on the side of my states politicians wanting the sanctuary cities and expecting the feds to pay for it! Send them back to mexico criminal or not!!!

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-6318--0-0.html

The federal government is not solely responsible for creating the mess in California. Actually, California politicians played a huge roll in creating the problem. Why should the rest of the country be made culpable for a problem that California has contributed to by welcoming illegals with open arms? I could understand if California had been doing all they could to fix the problem, but that is obviously not the case.

Don't leave food on your countertop for weeks on end and then wonder why you have ants!

Illegal aliens must be deported now.

If you sent a bill to Obama demanding $$ and responsibility for the illegals, you are going to be sitting there waiting for a looooooooong time! LMAO

Drop them in the very southern most point of Mexico in leg irons.

Totaly agree mickey how can you expect the feds to pay for something when the states been accepting these people for so long! If the state can't afford these people maybe it needs to reconcitter its position on this issiue. But that would take common sense and most ca politicians don't have that!