Thread: TX - Dewhurst Urges Obama to Pay Texas for Jailed Immigrants

by Brandi Grissom
October 22, 2013 (October 10, 2013
texastribune.org

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, in a pitched re-election battle with three GOP primary opponents, on Tuesday sent a letter to President Obama expressing his disappointment in the federal government's inability to secure the border and requesting millions to repay county jails for housing undocumented immigrants.

"Nearly 90% of Texas counties are affected by this unnecessary burden," he wrote. "This largely unfunded mandate cannot continue unchecked."

Dewhurst said the money spent jailing undocumented immigrants who have been charged with crimes could be better spent on increased law enforcement efforts, adding that he looked forward to a response in the form of "prompt payment."

Texas county jails spent more than $156.6 million housing more than 131,000 undocumented immigrants with federal detainers between October 2011 and September 2013, according to state jail commission data.

“Those are staggering numbers,” said state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, who authored the 2011 bill that required jails to begin tracking data about the cost of jailing undocumented immigrants.

Under Williams’ legislation, Senate Bill 1698, the counties must report to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards each month how many undocumented immigrants with Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers are in their facilities. ICE files detainers on undocumented immigrants who are subject to deportation when their sentences are completed. The law also requires jail officials to estimate the costs of housing those immigrants who face deportation. The goal was to establish the cost of jailing undocumented immigrants and to pressure the federal government to reimburse local communities, just as the feds already pay state prisons.

“The federal government has got to get a grip on controlling our borders,” Williams said in an emailed statement.

Of the 245 jails statewide, Harris County reported by far the largest number of undocumented immigrants and the highest cost. The jail, one of the largest in the nation, housed more than 30,000 undocumented immigrants at a cost of more than $49.6 million.

Alan Bernstein, a spokesman for the Harris County sheriff’s office, said calculating the cost is not as straightforward as it might seem. The federal government, he said, already pays a portion of the cost to house certain felony offenders who are undocumented immigrants. And, he pointed out, the inmates would be in jail even if there weren’t a detainer from ICE, because they were charged with crimes.

“Immigration is a federal issue, and if the federal government fails to take care of that piece of business, then it’s financially on the hook for it.” he said.

Dallas County spent more than $22 million housing more than 12,000 undocumented immigrants, and Travis County spent more than $15 million on 11,000 undocumented immigrants, according to the reports. Among the 20 counties that reported the highest costs, 17 reported spending $1 million or more.

Chuck DeVore, vice president for policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and a former California assemblyman, said the issue of reimbursement for incarcerating undocumented immigrants is thorny. Congress already pays a portion of the cost for housing undocumented immigrants in state lockups.

But he said it is useful to gather the data about the burden local governments are now shouldering.

“It will likely put additional pressure on federal representatives to increase reimbursement of the costs to the state of Texas, so that’s a good thing,” DeVore said.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/10/...ed-immigrants/

RELATED

http://www.alipac.us/f9/all-states-s...-doing-260349/

Posted: Friday, October 25, 2013 12:00 am
George Rodriguez
Sequin Gazette



Early this past week, Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst asked President Barack Obama to reimburse the state’s counties for the cost of housing undocumented immigrants in local jails.

As the House and Senate still are grappling with the disastrous rollout of ObamaCare, attention began to turn to immigration reform — which liberals now want to push.

While many liberals are demanding justice for the illegals in the U.S., the cost of incarceration and detention to local counties is also being assessed.

For example, according to records from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards: Immigration Retainer Report, taxpayers in Cameron County on the Mexico border paid an average of $272,451 a month to house and feed about 255 undocumented immigrants for 5,845 inmate days per month.

In Laredo, Webb County spent more than $1.1 million over two years to house about 1,900 undocumented immigrants with federal detainers in the county jail.

The hardest hit counties have been Harris County (Houston), which spent nearly $50 million; Travis County (Austin), which spent $22 million; and Dallas County (Dallas), which has spent $15 million.

Dewhurst stated in his letter to Obama, that since 2011, Texas county jails have spent about $15.6 million to house 131,000 undocumented immigrants.

In Houdini-like logic, Democrats claim that much of that cost is recovered by the county tax payers through federal grants.

The federal government has reimbursed the Cameron County $207,910 through a grant awards.

However, Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio said he believes the county is owed at least another $100,000, if not more, for holding the inmates.

Outside of stronger border enforcement, the cost of housing illegal aliens must be addresses in combination with America’s foreign policy.

The vast majority of nations that send us illegal aliens also receive U.S. foreign aid.

In essence, these nations are “double-dipping.”

American taxpayers support their nation AND their citizens who are illegally in the U.S.

As I have recommended before, America should charge foreign countries for their citizens who are illegally in the U.S. and detained at the expense of the taxpayer.

For example, foreign aid to Mexico or El Salvador or Honduras, should be reduced by the amount of costs to house their citizens who are detained for entering our country illegally.

The sad reality is that most federal elected officials will not have the courage to defend the American taxpayer over the interests of liberal human rights groups who lobby on behalf of illegal aliens.

But tax payer relief is a must to stop the double-dipping by foreign countries that benefit from sending their poor to America as illegal aliens, and also receive foreign aid.

George Rodriguez is the south Texas state coordinator for Tea Party Patriots and is also a host on Raging Elephants Radio at www.ragingelephantsradio.com on the Internet.

http://seguingazette.com/opinion/com...a4bcf887a.html

RELATED

http://www.alipac.us/f12/border-cros...s-debt-291011/

Dewhurst takes right stand on federal reimbursement for immigrant prisoners

By Tod Robberson / Editorial Writer
trobberson@dallasnews.com
10:02 am on October 29, 2013

Undocumented immigrants "brunch" in the Maricopa County "Tent City Jail" on April 30, 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona. Some 200 undocumented immigrants are currently serving time in the facility, and most will be deported to Mexico after serving their sentence. The controversial jail is run by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has been an outspoken critic of illegal immigration and a supporter of Arizona's new tough immigration law. Prisoners at the facility are fed twice a day, sleep in non-airconditioned tents and are issued striped prison uniforms and pink underwear and socks. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

For all the fun I’ve poked at Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, he’s spot on when it comes to demanding federal reimbursement for illegal immigrants locked up in Texas (and other states’) prisons and jails.

“Nearly 90 percent of Texas counties are affected by this unnecessary burden,” he wrote in a letter to President Barack Obama last week.

“This largely unfunded mandate cannot continue unchecked.”

Keep in mind that Dewhurst is frantically working to find wedge issues that will distinguish him from his three challengers in the Republican primary for the lieutenant governor’s seat. Too often, this battle pushes candidates into the most extreme positions on key issues as they vie to out-conservatize each other to win the tea party vote. This might be one of those issues, but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong.

I’ve long contended that the federal government can’t have it both ways. On the one hand, it tells state and local governments that they cannot pass laws that usurp or interfere with federal immigration enforcement. Since illegal immigration begins with the unauthorized penetration of a federal border, the issue constitutionally falls squarely within the federal government’s jurisdiction. That means local governments like Farmers Branch cannot pass laws requiring landlords to verify the immigration status of their tenants as a means of deterring illegal immigrants from living in the city. It limits how far Maricopa Country Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona can go with his campaign to chase every last immigrant from his territory.

Fine. Constitutionally, that’s the way it should be. But that also means it’s the federal government’s job to adequately enforce its laws to protect local and state government’s from illegal immigrants who commit jail-able offenses. The fact that they are in the country illegally is the reason they are able to break other laws, get arrested and wind up in jails or prisons. The failure of the federal government to do its job means state and local governments inherit the burden posed by criminal illegal immigrants.

That’s not fine. It means local taxpayers must foot the bill for the federal government’s failure to do its job. We have a right to reimbursement. It’s our money. Of course, so are the federal dollars that would reimburse us. But it’s a question of fair distribution of the burden.

Washington state or Wyoming or Iowa, with far fewer illegal immigrants than Texas, don’t have to bear anywhere near the financial burden that Texas, Arizona, California and New Mexico must bear for housing criminal illegal immigrants.

As the Texas Tribune reported, citing state jail commission data, Texas county jails spent more than $156.6 million housing more than 131,000 undocumented immigrants with between October 2011 and September 2013. Of the 245 jailsstatewide, Harris County reported had to bear the highest burden, housing more than 30,000 undocumented immigrants at a cost of more than $49.6 million.

Why should Harris County taxpayers be forced to foot that bill?

Dewhurst is absolutely correct to push this issue. If Congress can’t get its act together on comprehensive immigration reform, it at least should own up to the federal government’s responsibility and make sure that local and state taxpayers aren’t left holding the bill simply because of their state’s proximity to the U.S. border.

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallas...nclick_check=1