Thread: Locking Up Illegal Aliens a Costly Proposition for States

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Locking Up Illegal Aliens a Costly Proposition for States
By Kevin Mooney
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
July 31, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - When illegal immigrants, who are in violation of U.S. law by virtue of crossing the border, find themselves in prison for committing subsequent crimes, like robbery or murder, it isn't the federal government that picks up the cost in most cases. Instead, it's the state and county officials in places like Southern California, Washington State and Colorado.

A provision in a 1996 immigration reform law, which has been used only in the last several years, is helping to offset the funding crisis in some states.

The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), in place since 1994, is designed to allow states and counties the ability to get reimbursed for jailing illegal immigrants. But the reimbursements have shrunk so much that some officials have resorted to suing or threatening to sue the U.S. Justice Department.

Washington State Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on July 17, billing him for $50 million - the amount she said the federal government owed the state for incarcerating illegal immigrants in Fiscal Years (FY) 2005 and 2006.

In Colorado, state lawmakers estimate that it's costing $40 million a year to house more than 1,000 inmates from other countries. On July 8 the Colorado Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill encouraging the state attorney general to try to get back the money, including suing the federal government if necessary.

Colorado House Bill 1014 also directs state Attorney General John Suthers to seek compensation for costs connected with the incarceration of illegal aliens. Suthers sent Gonzales a letter and then met with the U.S. attorney general in Washington D.C., on July 18, but Suthers' office did not disclose details of the meeting.

In Los Angeles County, which has one of the nation's highest concentrations of illegal immigrants, officials have been reimbursed on average about 30 percent of the amount they believe they should have received from the SCAAP program for keeping illegal immigrants behind bars over the last five years.

"We are submitting a number, but a certain percentage of that number is being disallowed," Marc Klugman, chief of the correctional services division in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, told Cybercast News Service. In Fiscal Year 2005, the county jailed almost 30,000 inmates identified as illegal aliens, but was reimbursed for the costs related to a little more than 11,000 of the inmates.

Guidelines for SCAAP, which is administered through the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Judicial Assistance, also create a disadvantage for jurisdictions like Los Angeles County, where about 90 percent of the jailed inmates are held in pre-trial or pre-sentencing mode.

Prior to 2003, only the costs of incarcerating criminal aliens held in custody for at least three days were eligible for reimbursement. In 2003, the requirement changed to four days, resulting in a 26 percent drop in the number of qualifying inmates for SCAAP reimbursements. Click here to see 2001-2005 Los Angeles SCAAP Data.

The funding formula used for SCAAP, as it is explained on the Department of Justice (DOJ) website, is based on two primary factors: the annual salary costs for corrections officers who detain undocumented criminal aliens and the total number of all inmate days. Only criminal aliens who have at least two misdemeanors or one felony qualify.

Gregoire's letter to the DOJ requests a response by Aug. 1. But Charles Miller, a DOJ spokesman, told Cybercast News Service that each state is treated in a "fair and equitable" manner under the funding formula established under SCAAP.

While acknowledging the reduction in the level of reimbursement to states over the last several years, Miller said Congress was ultimately responsible for any funding shortages. "We are paying out to all states and are paying a fair percentage," he said. "No state is being intentionally deprived."

However, DOJ officials who specifically addressed the question of anticipated funding for Fiscal Year 2006, made it clear that the agency "requests no funding for SCAAP," in part because the program "does not advance the core mission" of the agency.

In an email reply to Cybercast News Service, DOJ spokeswoman Sheila Jerusalem acknowledged that SCAAP is not given the same priority as other programs since funds awarded under the program "do not necessarily support efforts to develop the nation's capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice, or assist crime victims."

Jerusalem said the number of jurisdictions seeking reimbursement jumped to more than 800 beginning in FY 2003. There are 782 applications for FY 2006 and about $400 million to dole out to jurisdictions in all 50 states, up from about $300 million in FY 2005.

Jerusalem said the spike in applications is diluting the impact of SCAAP and undermining its primary objective.

"That purpose was to help relieve an unfair financial burden on a limited number of states and localities that were seriously inundated with undocumented alien offenders who should have been prevented from crossing the nation's borders," Jerusalem wrote.

Silver lining emerges

If there is a silver lining to this financial black cloud for states and counties overrun with illegal immigrants, it is the obscure Section 287(g) of the 1996 Immigration and Nationality Act, which has produced federal-state partnerships in Florida, Alabama, California and parts of Arizona that are reducing the pinch on those states.

Some of the more recent agreements between the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and various localities include an initiative launched last December in which Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) employees were certified to perform certain ICE functions after an intense training period.

In exchange for performing certain federal tasks, the Arizona Department of Corrections is able to shift its criminal alien population to federal prisons after the inmates have served half of their sentences.

"The program has paid huge dividends thus far," Bob Huhn, a spokesman for ADC, told Cybercast News Service. "It has provided state taxpayers with welcome relief and great savings."

The transfer of criminal aliens into federal custody, made possible through the partnership with ICE, has saved the state about $3 million since the program began last December, according to ADC. The training costs associated with certifying local officials with federal responsibilities are also funded by ICE and cost the state nothing, Russell Ahr, a spokesman for ICE in Arizona, told Cybercast News Service.

Klugman from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said his jurisdiction has also benefited from the federal-state partnership. The agreement has been in place since January and allows for eight custody assistants in the sheriff's department to assume specified federal functions related to immigration law. These custody officials have the authority to perform interrogations, take fingerprints, take sworn statements and place detainers on criminal aliens eligible for deportation.

"They can start the paperwork that makes deportation," possible, Klugman explained. "But the actual deportation process is still handled through ICE."

Klugman said he is cautious about expecting too much from the federal government. "We did not enter into the partnership with the idea that it would lead into greater reimbursement. It depends upon how the funding formula is applied. But certainly it will help us better identify criminal aliens who would be eligible under SCAAP guidelines," he said.

Klugman added that he would like to see the program renewed and expanded by his county's board of supervisors, despite the fact that the training process of the custody assistants is so demanding. Training that would normally be conducted over a period of several months was instead compressed into one month last December for the sheriff's employees.

Jodi Miller, a public information officer with the San Bernardino County Sherriff's Department, said 144 hours of training were required before local officials could be assigned to federal immigration tasks. The topics folded into the training process include civil rights, intercultural training and "anti-racial profiling," according to Jamie Zuieback, an ICE spokeswoman in Washington D.C.

"Immigration law is very complex," Zuieback said. "We want the states to succeed. It is in their interests and in ours."

The partnerships benefit the federal government as well since there are 775,000 state and local law enforcement agencies nationwide compared with just 10,000 ICE officers and special agents, Zuieback told Cybercast News Service.

Having states operate in close concert with ICE officials is producing tangible results, Zuieback added. For example, in Arizona 142 removal orders (transferred to federal custody) were issued in June 2006 versus only seven in June 2005, according to the ADC. The same report showed that 43 foreign nationals were deported in June 2006 versus 12 in June 2005.

While Section 287(g) has been on the books for many years, Zuieback acknowledged that it has only been accelerated recently under ICE.

Alabama, which entered into a partnership with ICE in 2003, now has 44 state troopers with ICE training. More recent participants include Riverside County and San Bernardino County in Southern California and the Mecklenburg County Sherriff's Department in North Carolina.

Zuieback said ICE is currently talking with other localities about the options available under 287(g), but she declined to provide any details or to identify which local governments were involved. However, she did say announcements would be made as agreements were reached.

In Colorado, state lawmakers estimate that it's costing $40 million a year to house more than 1,000 inmates from other countries. On July 8 the Colorado Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill encouraging the state attorney general to try to get back the money, including suing the federal government if necessary.

I'm pretty sure a one way plane ticket back to their own country would cost a hell of a lot less than $40 million for 1,000 inmates.

A tent city wouldn't cost that much. Plus the fact of someone facing living behind a fence in a tent could be a good deterrent to leave.

"Immigration law is very complex,"

What is so complex about it??? You came in illegally...OUT you go!! It may be complex when coming in LEGALLY, but it seems pretty "cut and dried" as to Illegals! Or is that too simple?