Thread: Bill seeks U.S. money for inmates

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/08 ... _11_06.txt

Bill seeks U.S. money for inmates

By: CHRIS BAGLEY - Staff Writer

SACRAMENTO ---- Legislation before the Assembly would demand greater federal reimbursement for jailing criminals who are in the country illegally, a cost that its Riverside County author says is $662 million a year and rising quickly.

The U.S. Department of Justice already provides such payments through the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program. But since 1990, when the payments were first written into federal law, reimbursements have shrunk as a portion of the costs that states cite.

The bill by Assemblyman John Benoit, R-Palm Desert, would require the state attorney general to pursue full reimbursements "with all available legal resources."

"The federal government has blatantly ignored that statute for years," said Benoit, whose district reaches west to take in portions of Temecula, Canyon Lake and Lake Elsinore. "It was the federal government's responsibility to make sure we have a secure border in the first place."

The largely symbolic bill, if it passes, would raise California's voice in a growing chorus of accusations by states' leaders that the federal government is letting immigration issues fall through the cracks.

As Congress deadlocked last month over two competing immigration bills, Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire "billed" the federal government $50 million for the cost of jailing 995 illegal immigrants for nearly two years.

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano has made similar requests for two years, but has not been reimbursed, officials in that state say. Earlier this year, Napolitano asked the feds for $270 million, the three-year cost of housing illegal immigrants who were convicted and jailed in Arizona state prisons.

And in April, Schwarzenegger, a Republican, joined Democrats Napolitano and Gregoire and 11 other governors in asking the U.S. Justice Department for increased federal funding for jailed illegal immigrants. Schwarzenegger estimated such prisoners cost the state $750 million each year.

"Congress doesn't appropriate sufficient funds," said Ann Morse, director of the immigration-policy program at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

As of June 2005, at least 59,000 non-citizens, including legal residents and visitors, were serving time in the 50 states' prison systems; another 35,282 were in federal lockup, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Those numbers have remained steady over the last eight years.

Meanwhile, federal reimbursements have shrunk to about a quarter of states' needs, Morse said. Benoit said California's reimbursement for the 2005-06 fiscal year is expected to cover only about 16 percent of the $662 million of what California spent.

The issue is particularly important for states with large numbers of illegal immigrants in their prisons. California has by far the largest number of non-citizens in its prisons, accounting for about 16 percent of the states' total prison populations. The Golden State has only about 13 percent of the nation's total population.

Between 9,500 and 16,000 of the state's prison population are in the country illegally, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. That represents 6 to 9 percent of the state's 171,000 inmates. The department's budget is about $8.1 billion in the current fiscal year.

Schwarzenegger is pushing the Legislature this month to pass a series of bills that would allow the state to borrow as much as $6 billion to build new prisons and in the meantime transfer illegal-immigrant prisoners to other states to relieve crowding.

A spokesman for the corrections department wasn't immediately able to say why the transfers would be limited to illegal immigrants. But 16,000 is also the approximate number of prisoners who are housed outside of standard cells, according to the department's Web site.

The legislation faces a tight deadline in a special session of the Legislature, which is scheduled to end Aug. 31.

It coincides with a volley of prison-related bills that Schwarzenegger has introduced in the four-week special session, which began Monday. One bill would borrow money to build new penitentiaries; another would pay other states' prison systems to house illegal immigrants convicted of crimes in California.

Benoit also said he didn't expect much support from the Legislature's Democratic majority.

"I think the feeling is that anything you do in this area could be seen as biased against immigrants," he said.

The bill will probably head next to the chamber's Public Safety Committee, which handles most crime-related legislation.

"He's making a righteous point," Committee Chair Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, said of Benoit. "These are dollars owed to us. But at least from my perspective, we don't need a statute."

Benoit also said he didn't expect much support from the Legislature's Democratic majority.

"I think the feeling is that anything you do in this area could be seen as biased against immigrants," he said.

Building prisons is biased?????? Have the Democrats totally lost their minds?? Who cares if can be SEEN as biased?? I am so sick of the pandering!

The bill by Assemblyman John Benoit, R-Palm Desert, would require the state attorney general to pursue full reimbursements "with all available legal resources."

I'd say this is a healthy start. Perhaps it would catch on.

Yes the are all (Reps and Dems) mad with the exception of a few select people.