Thread: Benoit Bill Pressures Feds to Pay Cost

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Benoit Bill Pressures Feds to Pay Cost or Transfer Illegal Immigrant Prisoners to Federal Prisons
California Political Desk



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California Political Desk
August 2, 2006
(SACRAMENTO) Assemblyman John J. Benoit (Palm Desert) yesterday announced that he will introduce special session legislation to pressure the federal government to reimburse California for the full cost of incarcerating illegal immigrants. Currently, the federal government provides only a partial “take it or leave it” payment. This payment, through the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), leaves Californian’s paying 83% of the costs to imprison illegal immigrants.

“The pittance California receives from the federal government doesn’t even come close to covering the cost to California taxpayers. The federal government must be brought to task.” said Assemblyman Benoit, “California prisons are severely overcrowded. If the Feds won’t fully compensate us for housing their criminals, we should transfer them to federal prisons.”

Benoit’s bill will seek a dual approach:

1. The State of California would be required to a) ask the federal government to take these prisoners into federal custody, and b) bill the federal government annually for the full cost of incarcerating any illegal immigrants they refuse to accept.

2. Should the federal government fail to take custody of, or fully compensate California for the incarceration of illegal immigrants, the California Attorney General would be required to use all available legal recourses to compel the federal government to fulfill its obligations under federal law.


United States Code (8 U.S.C. 1231(I)(2)) requires the United States’ Attorney General to either “enter into a contractual agreement which provides for compensation to the State…with respect to the incarceration of the undocumented criminal alien; or …take the undocumented criminal alien into the custody of the Federal Government and incarcerate the alien.”

If the Federal Attorney General elects to compensate the State, the statute requires him to determine the compensation based on the “average cost of incarceration of a prisoner to the relevant State.”

Illegal immigrants comprise 10.9% of California’s prison population. Each inmate costs California taxpayers an estimated $34,150. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spent $662.4 million housing illegal immigrants in the 2005-06 fiscal year. Under the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) California will receive federal reimbursement for only $107.1 million, a mere 16% of its actual costs.

In the 2006-07 fiscal year, costs are expected to rise to $722.7 million, a 9.1% increase. The federal government’s reimbursement, although expected to grow by $7 million, will fail to keep pace with the state’s rising costs; as a result federal reimbursements will likely fall below 16%.


Assemblyman John J. Benoit represents the 64th Assembly District, which includes Anza, Bermuda Dunes, Canyon Lake, Idyllwild, Indian Wells, March Air Force Base, Mountain Center, Palm Desert, Quail Valley, Rancho Mirage, Riverside, Woodcrest, and portions of Hemet, Indio, Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Perris, Sun City, Temecula, Wildomar, and Winchester. For further information regarding Assemblyman Benoit, please visit his website at www.assembly.ca.gov/Benoit.





















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If the Feds won’t fully compensate us for housing their criminals, we should transfer them to federal prisons.”

How about we just transfer them out of the country? It would be cheaper than holding them here.

Assemblyman John J. Benoit (Palm Desert) yesterday announced that he will introduce special session legislation to pressure the federal government to reimburse California for the full cost of incarcerating illegal immigrants. Currently, the federal government provides only a partial “take it or leave it” payment. This payment, through the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), leaves Californian’s paying 83% of the costs to imprison illegal immigrants.

You made your bed, now sleep in it! California is a haven for illegal immigrants and pretty much encourages them at almost every turn. Why should the federal government (my tax dollars) go toward helping California deal with a problem they created and continue to encourage? What did California expect, all these illegals are not the hardworking Christian souls President Bush proclaims. Among them are murderers, theives, child molesters, etc.

Advice: Reduce the illegal immigrant population through active deportation, bust those employers that hire them, and ensure no illegal receives anything free except emergency medical care. Taking these three steps alone will reduce your criminal population of illegal immigrants. When you reduce your illegal population, you also reduce the number of hardened criminals that prey on American citizens and the system.

This is not brain science! Don't encourage, and actively solicit, a problem and expect the federal government, through our tax dollars, to bail you out.

sippy wrote:

How about we just transfer them out of the country? It would be cheaper than holding them here.

I think we're talking about illegals that have commited serious crimes sippy. IMHO, deportation is to good for those characters - they need to do hard time behind prison bars. We can't just deport a murderer or child molester - they must pay for their crime. Deportation will come after their prison sentence is served.

MW

You made your bed, now sleep in it! California is a haven for illegal immigrants and pretty much encourages them at almost every turn. Why should the federal government (my tax dollars) go toward helping California deal with a problem they created and continue to encourage? What did California expect, all these illegals are not the hardworking Christian souls President Bush proclaims. Among them are murderers, theives, child molesters, etc.

My thoughts exactly. They want to spread the cost of incarceration out over the WHOLE American populace. I think not

Here isa though on the inmates who aren't particularly violent:

Use them to clean up the mess the illegals make coming into this country.

I feel sorry for the rational Californians, but, obviously, the loud majority(?) have created this problem. It's their room - let them clean it up of live with the filth