Thread: State representatives call for restoration of SCAAP funding

While pleased that a Congressional subcommittee restored some but not all of the assistance funds for jailing illegal immigrants, which were eliminated in President Barack Obama's budget, four Arizona lawmakers said it is not enough.


They are calling for restoration of another $100 million.
In a June 4 press release from the office of Rep. Anne Kirkpatrick (Dist. 1, D-AZ), press secretary Joe Katz said Kirkpatrick, along with Reps. Harry Mitchell (Dist. 5, D-AZ), Trent Franks (Dist. 2, R-AZ), and Gabrielle Giffords (Dist. 8, D-AZ), joined together to write a letter to Reps. David Obey and Jerry Lewis, the top Democrat and Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, to strongly request the $100 million be restored to bring State Criminal Alien Assistance Program funding back to the $400 million level.
"Arizonans are tired of carrying the federal government's burden of dealing with illegal immigration and border security, and SCAAP helps ensure that we do not get stuck with the entire bill for this national problem," Kirkpatrick said.
"Our local law enforcement needs more resources, not fewer. Congressional leadership must recognize that and fully fund this vital program."
The four Arizona congressmen are not the only ones who feel federal support of the program is not only wise, but essential to law enforcement and national security.
California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein has been very vocal in her repeated calls for additional funding for the program, which Obama himself (while an Illinois senator) has in the past voted to support.
As an Illinois senator, Obama co-sponsored an amendment offered by then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) which would have provided additional funding for the program while also establishing a grant program to defray local government health-care and education costs for non-citizens.
Obama voted to support the Clinton the amendment, but it was defeated 43-52.
"Each year, the SCAAP program is underfunded," Clinton said in 2006.
Kirkpatrick, Franks, Feinstein, Giffords and Mitchell are not the only ones requesting full restoration of SCAAP funding either.
A bipartisan trio comprised of California's Democrat Reps. Mike Honda and Adam Schiff, along with Lewis, drafted a letter urging the House Appropriations subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies to restore full funding for the program.
"The federal government's inability to secure our border and enforce immigration laws has put an enormous burden on our local law enforcement agencies. The SCAAP funding is crucial given the fact that there are such high numbers of illegal immigrants in our jails.
"The federal government has a responsibility to ensure these cash-strapped law enforcement agencies are financially compensated for doing the job the federal government should done in the first place," Franks said.


http://www.wmicentral.com/site/news.cfm ... 5965&rfi=6

Dear Mr. XXXXXXXXX:

Thank you for writing to me regarding continued federal funding of the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP). I appreciate hearing from you, and I share your strong support for this vital law enforcement program, which provides federal payments to states and localities that incur costs for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens.

Last month I joined a bipartisan group of my Senate colleagues in writing to Senators Barbara Mikulski and Richard Shelby, the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) Subcommittee. We asked the Subcommittee to include at least $400 million and up to $950 million for SCAAP in the Fiscal Year 2010 CJS Appropriations bill.

Although the Administration had proposed eliminating funding for SCAAP, the Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday approved SCAAP funding of $228 million for FY2010. Previously the House of Representative approved $300 million in funding for the program. As the Appropriations process continues, be assured that I will work with my colleagues to enact at least that level of funding.

As I work to increase funding for SCAAP, I am also co-sponsoring legislation with Senator Dianne Feinstein to improve the program. S.168, the SCAAP Reimbursement Protection Act of 2009, would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to compensate states for incarcerating undocumented aliens charged with a felony or two or more misdemeanors.

As you may know, SCAAP was originally enacted to reimburse states and localities for the costs of incarcerating undocumented aliens. However, following a 2003 Department of Justice reinterpretation of the statute, DOJ reimburses states and counties only for the costs of housing convicted criminal aliens, not for housing undocumented aliens who have been charged with a crime. S.168 would restore SCAAP to Congress's original intent to ensure that states and localities could be reimbursed for the costs of incarcerating aliens who are either charged with or convicted of a felony or two misdemeanors.

Again, thank you for writing to me. Be assured that I will keep working to provide adequate funding for SCAAP so that the federal government assumes its responsibility for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens.


Barbara Boxer
United States Senator


Please do not respond to this message. If you would like to comment on legislation, please visit my website and use the correspondence form at

https://boxer.senate.gov/contact/email/policy.cfm