States, counties await funds for jailing illegal immigrants
By Lisa Friedman Washington Bureau

Apr 27, 2007
States and counties nationwide have yet to see a dime of the $405million Congress promised last year to help pay the cost of locking up illegal immigrants.

The delay has burdened budgets from California and Texas to Massachusetts and Michigan as counties wait to recoup money they spent as long as two years ago.

California is waiting for $85.9 million, with Los Angeles County in line for $12.5 million and Riverside County waiting for $1.2 million.

And the delay has prompted a growing outcry among legislators and local government officials coping with stretched budgets and booming prison populations.

"It's been a big hit for counties," said Dian Copelin Watkins, the Washington, D.C., representative for the Border Counties Coalition, which represents 24 county governments along the U.S.-Mexico border.

"For some of them, it's very difficult to make up the money," she said.

Under the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, the Department of Justice reimburses states and counties for the costs of jailing illegal immigrants who commit local crimes.

The program was created in 1997, and California has reaped nearly $700 million from it since 2000.

Still, lawmakers note the program never fully covers the costs incurred by local governments, and even at its highest appropriated level defrayed county costs by only 33 cents on the dollar.
Local officials maintain that since guarding the U.S. border is a federal responsibility, paying for the costs associated with illegal immigrants also should fall on the federal government's shoulders.

In the past, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Sen. Jon Kyle, R-Ariz., have tried unsuccessfully to increase funding for the program to $950 million.

But each year, the administration also has tried to abolish the reimbursement budget, leaving Congress scrambling to restore at least some funding.

For many states and municipalities, the funding is crucial.

Los Angeles County, for example, estimates it spent more than $80 million in 2005 keeping criminal illegal immigrants in jail.

"It really is unacceptable for the government to stiff people this way," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.

Yaroslavsky and other Los Angeles officials traveled to the nation's Capitol this week and raised the issue at a White House meeting Thursday.

"We fight to get an appropriation, and then we don't get a check," Yaroslavsky said. "It costs us money when we incur an expense for which we are supposed to be reimbursed and that reimbursement is late."

Department of Justice officials blamed the problem on a delay in validating county data.

Lawmakers familiar with the problem, however, said the agency has a new internal system that is causing the glitch.

Few, however, were sympathetic.

"It's unacceptable," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, who said he has been trying to get answers from the Department of Justice.

Schiff noted that while agencies typically need four to eight months to cut checks after Congress approves appropriations bills, a delay of 12 months is unprecedented.

"It could be June before states get anything," he said.

That puts a crimp on Colorado, for example, which is waiting for $5 million; Massachusetts, which is in line for $7.2million; and Michigan, which has not yet seen its $1.2million.

Scott Gerber, a spokesman for Feinstein, noted that California as a whole spends more than $750 million each year to incarcerate illegal immigrants.

"Senator Feinstein finds it shocking that the DOJ hasn't reimbursed states and local governments," Gerber said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said White House officials assured him Thursday that the money will be forthcoming.

"There is no excuse for not giving us the back-payment dollars," Baca said. But, he added, "Our criticisms have been duly noted, and now all we have to do is wait for the check."

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