Thread: TX-Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, pitches federal help to pay fo

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, pitches federal help to pay for jailed migrants

El Paso Times (Texas)
October 16, 2009 Friday
By Darren Meritz

EL PASO -- Texas communities, particularly those along the border, are getting stuck with the bill when it comes to keeping criminal undocumented immigrants in jails, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said Thursday.

Cornyn, R-Texas, said that responsibility belongs to the federal government, not local, and he is co-sponsoring two amendments to add federal money for a program that offsets the cost for local governments for jailing immigrants who have committed serious crimes.

"The fact of the matter is that Texas gets the short end of the stick through another unfunded mandate while is the federal government's responsibility to enforce our immigration laws," he said. "Unfortunately, it is the local government and state government who end up picking up the tab."

Cornyn is proposing to add $172 million to the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, which in 2009 appropriated $394 million to state and local governments to help pay for the cost of jailing criminal undocumented immigrants.

In its current form, the Senate appropriation for the program will be cut to $228 million for 2010. But Cornyn's amendments would allow the program to continue to operate at its same funding level with the added money.

El Paso leaders say that even with the added money from Cornyn's amendment, the county is stuck spending money on inmates who are supposed to be the federal government's responsibility.

"Right now, the county government is subsidizing the federal government's laws," said El Paso County Judge Anthony Cobos. "An increase in that funding would give more communities more money, and I can't think of a single community that would be impacted more positively than El Paso."

David Austin, a lobbyist for El Paso County, said the program could be funded up to $950 million a year but was expected to get less than half of that. What's more, he said, jails are reimbursed based on convictions, not detentions, of criminal immigrants.

The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program is allocates federal money for the labor costs of incarcerating undocumented immigrants who have at least one felony or two misdemeanor convictions and who are jailed at least four consecutive days.

This year through the program, Texas received nearly $18 million and El Paso County received $875,223 , which county leaders say goes a long way toward reimbursing local government for jailing criminal undocumented immigrants.

Cornyn's announcement came as the federal government is changing the way it detains and keeps track of undocumented immigrants in custody, whether they've committed crimes or not.

Cornyn made a distinction between jailing criminal undocumented immigrants and noncriminal immigrants.

Darren Meritz may be reached at dmeritz@elpasotimes.com; 546-6127.

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the feds are already suppose to be paying for it.
i got a novel idea, SEND THE DAMN BILL TO MEXICO or any other country whos people we are holding in prison

This would ring more true if Sen. Cornyn weren't openly ready to help Sen. Schumer (D-NY) pass "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" for illegal aliens in our country. And. as an active member of the Senate "India Caucus", Cornyn also has actively promoted Indian business interests and the expansion of the H-1B Visas program in the United States. Beyond the obvious detrimental effects to our county, another has been that Indians now are vying with Mexicans to become the largest illegal alien group in the United States.