Final OK Near for Jail Funds
Bill would repay for criminal immigrants stay
Rep. David Dreier's effort to expand the federal program that reimburses state and local governments for jailing undocumented criminal immigrants passed a major hurdle this week.
An amendment, sponsored by the Glendora Republican, to increase the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program by $50 million a year to $405 million was added to a large spending bill Tuesday. The bill is expected to be approved today by the House of Representatives.
"The California taxpayers, people in the counties, should not have to shoulder the costs of incarceration of criminals in this country illegally," Dreier said, adding that the federal government has failed to secure the nation's borders. "That's why reimbursement is very appropriate."
The spending bill, which appropriates money to agencies including the departments of State, Justice and Commerce, originally included $355 million to fund the SCAAP program for fiscal year 2006. The SCAAP program reimburses state and local governments that house illegal immigrants with at least one felony or two misdemeanor convictions for violations of state or local laws.
If a $50 million increase is ultimately approved by the Senate and signed into law, the Department of Justice program will see a $100 million increase in funding versus last year.
Local law enforcement agencies welcomed the news.
"It's important to get (reimbursement) because it impacts our budgets directly," said Sheriff Bob Doyle of Riverside County, which seeks and receives about $2 million a year through the program. "Every year we worry about whether or not we will get the reimbursement that's needed." While any funding increase will be doled out among several states, California has received 44 percent of total funding since the program's inception in 1994 and is expected to receive a significant part of the increase.
"There's no doubt that we'll get the lion's share of it, that we'll get more than any other state," Dreier said. "We're the largest state in the union, and the problem is (as) great in California as it is anywhere else, if not greater."
In 2004, California hosted about 2.4 million illegal immigrants, an increase from about 1.6 million in 1990, according to a Pew Hispanic Center Study released this week.
California now has, however, a smaller share of the total illegal immigration population - 24 percent in 2004 compared to 45 percent in 1990.
Since 1995, more illegal immigrants have entered the country each year than legal immigrants.
The amendment, which was co-sponsored by Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., received support from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca.
"This funding is vital to our state and local governments as the cost of incarcerating illegal immigrant felons in our prisons increases," Schwarzenegger said in a prepared statement Tuesday.
California spends more than $700 million a year to incarcerate undocumented criminal aliens, he said.
