Goshen, NY – U.S. Rep. John Hall (D-NY19) and Orange County Sheriff Carl DuBois held a roundtable meeting today to bring together key members of Hudson Valley law enforcement to discuss critical issues affecting their communities, including the undue burdens placed on local law enforcement by illegal immigration and the failure of federal policies to address it.

Congressman Hall discussed with the officials his efforts to roll back severe cuts to successful law enforcement programs in the President's proposed fiscal year (FY) 2009 budget.

"More than six years after 9/11 and with our Homeland Security needs still not met, the President unconscionably proposes to slash critical funding for vital law enforcement programs," said Congressman Hall.  "I'm going to work with my colleagues in Congress to reverse these irresponsible cuts."

The President's FY09 budget proposal reduces total state and local law enforcement programs in half, from $2.6 billion to $1.2 billion. The President's budget also virtually eliminates funding for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), which provides federal payments to reimburse states and localities for costs incurred incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens.

In New York, reimbursement under the program has been 24% of the costs associated with these detentions.  Orange County is in the top 20 percent of municipalities in the U.S. in terms of the amount of money it receives annually from the program. Other Hudson Valley counties also benefit from the program.

"Under President Bush’s proposal, the federal government would stop or reduce the reimbursements to localities like Orange County for their work detaining illegal immigrants, forcing taxpayers to pay for the costs through local taxes," said Hall.  "The federal government should foot the bill, not local taxpayers."

Congressman Hall convened the roundtable meeting so he could hear directly from law enforcement officials about their needs and opinions on what could be improved between the local-federal partnerships in fighting crime.

"It is important for me to keep an open dialogue between my office and local law enforcement and for officials to know they can come to me with any concerns," said Congressman Hall.

Besides Orange County Sherriff Carl Dubois and Congressman Hall, participants in the roundtable included:
Rockland County Sheriff James Kralik, Putnam County Sheriff Donald Smith, Lt. John Waterson on behalf of the Dutchess County Sheriff, Westchester County Department of Probation Deputy Commissioner Jacolyn G. Levin on behalf of Westchester County Commissioner Thomas Belfiore, Westchester County Department of Probation Supervising Probation Officer Juan Sierra, State Police Troop F Commander (Orange, Rockland) Major Ed Raso, State Police Troop K Commander (Dutchess, Putnam, Westchester) Captain Thomas Phelan, Village of Mt. Kisco Police Chief Steven Anderson, SPCA of Westchester Police Chief Kenneth Ross, Village of Buchanan Police Chief Brian Tubbs, Town of Carmel Police Chief Mike Johnson, Poughkeepsie Police Deputy Chief Thomas Ghee, City of Beacon Police Lieutenant Dan Dowd, Village of Highland Falls Police Chief Peter Miller, Town of Chester Police Chief Brian Jarvis, Town of Tuxedo Police Chief Daniel Carlin, Town of Cornwall Police Chief Todd Hazard, Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson Police Chief Charles Williams, City of Port Jervis Police Chief William Worden, Village of Washingtonville Police Chief Stephan Pascal, Town of Warwick Police Chief Thomas McGovern, Town of Woodbury Police Chief Robert Kwiatkowski, Town of Mt. Hope Police Investigator Robert Decker, Village of Monroe Police Chief Dominic Giudice Jr., and New Windsor Police Deputy Chief Rick Hovey.