CA - U.S. illegal immigration program costing county
Posted on Sunday, November 08 @ 01:51:33 EST
Topic: money campaigns cost illegal immigration
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 San Bernardino County taxpayers have spent an estimated $54.5 million to jail illegal immigrants since 2004, and officials have been fighting an uphill battle to get the federal government to pick up more of that cost.
In all, federal officials have reimbursed the county about $6.7million since fiscal year 2004 through the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program.
Subjects: Illegal Immigration costs, San Bernardino County, taxpayers, State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, 287(g)
November 7, 2009
Joe Nelson
sbsun.com
Los Angeles Newspaper Group
County officials say the advent of the 287(g) program, which trains county jail deputies to identify illegal immigrants and hold them for immigration proceedings, gives local authorities their most precise picture yet of how many illegal immigrants are being held and how much it costs.
But with the tough economy, there's little hope that local taxpayers will get off the hook any time soon.
"The Board of Supervisors believes it should be fully reimbursed by the federal government for the cost of incarcerating criminal illegal immigrants, and the county works very hard at the federal level to preserve and maximize the SCAAP," county spokesman David Wert said.
In April 2008, the Board of Supervisors approved a resolution seeking additional reimbursement from the federal government for the costs of jailing illegal immigrants.
"San Bernardino County taxpayers shouldn't have to shoulder that burden," Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt said at the time. "It's an insult to our taxpayers to reimburse us for only (a fraction) of our cost for housing illegal aliens in our jails."
The problem in securing additional reimbursement from the federal government, Wert said, boils down to the usual suspect: money.
The last three presidents have proposed either cutting or eliminating the reimbursement program as a way to help balance the federal budget.
The program also is under fire in the Senate, where the purse strings are controlled by members from small states that tend not to have serious immigration problems.
The Obama administration, in its budget submittal to Congress last year, asked Congress to eliminate SCAAP, Wert said.
"The county grasps the reality that very little funding is available, and given the political realities in Washington, the county is, in a sense, lucky the program exists at all," Wert said.
Members of the Board of Supervisors and Sheriff Rod Hoops have had personal conversations with the county's congressional delegation in efforts to secure more federal money.
That's in addition to the county's lobbying efforts, which the county has done both individually and in conjunction with Riverside, Orange and Los Angeles counties, Wert said.
Last week, the Board of Supervisors voted to extend the 287(g) program for three years.
Under the agreement with U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement, nine San Bernardino County sheriff's custody specialists screen inmates suspected of being in the country illegally. If it is determined that certain inmates are illegal immigrants, detainers are placed on them, and they are turned over to federal immigration officers once their criminal cases have concluded.
But some critics question whether the program is helping taxpayers or hurting them.
"It's a burdensome cost to the local government," said Suzanne Foster, policy committee chairwoman for the Justice for Immigrants Coalition of Inland Southern California. "ICE does provide initial training, but it does not fund the screening process, overtime hours, or any part of the housing of inmates. ... It has been found all over the country to be quite burdensome to the local governments, costing taxpayers more than is necessary."
Foster says the program encourages police officers to arrest greater numbers of illegal immigrants, leading to increased cost to taxpayers.
Indeed, the number of San Bernardino County jail inmates identified as illegal immigrants has grown nearly five-fold since 2004.
But it's impossible to tell whether more illegal immigrants are being jailed or simply counted more precisely.
Last year, the inmate screening program was streamlined to enable custody specialists to screen inmates countywide via closed-circuit television. Since then, the numbers of inmates who have had detainer holds placed on them has increased dramatically, sheriff's Lt. Rick Ells said.
"I'm not sure it's cutting down on what we're spending on housing the inmates, but we're removing criminals from the streets, and that's going to benefit the county," he said.
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