FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JMD MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1995 (202) 616-2765 TDD (202) 514-1888 JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SEEKS 20 PERCENT INCREASE IN FY 96 BUDGET TO REDUCE VIOLENT CRIME AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Justice today released a FY96 budget that seeks $16.5 billion, a 20 percent increase, to fulfill its mission to reduce violent crime. The new resources will put 20,000 more police on the street, imprison more violent offenders, provide state and local government with much needed resources for anti-crime initiatives and reduce the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States. "This increase reflects the federal government's unprecedented commitment to fight crime," Attorney General Janet Reno said. Today's budget request also helps to fulfill our pledge to provide crime fighting support and assistance at the state and local level," she added. Nearly 25 percent of the budget, $4 billion, will pay for grants to help states, communities, law enforcement, and citizens form partnerships to fight crime in their own neighborhoods -- a 67 percent increase over 1995. The majority of these grant funds will come from the 1994 crime bill trust fund, which is funded by savings realized by cutting the size of the federal government. These crime bill grants and other Department funds will provide resources that are sorely needed to lock up violent offenders, crack down on gangs and assist local crime-fighting initiatives, such as: Assistance to State & Local Governments: Community Policing: $1.9 billion to add 20,000 more police to the nation's total police strength and promote community policing, a 45 percent increase in funding over 1995. This represents the next installment on the President's commitment to put 100,000 more police on the streets. Nearly 10,000 police have been funded already, and 40,000 will be funded by the end of 1996. $20 million will be used for Police Corps and for scholarships for law enforcement officers. Incarceration of Violent Criminals: $500 million in grants to build new state and local jails and prisons (including facilities for juvenile offenders), rehabilitate existing jails and prisons, and build alternative correctional facilities like boot camps for non-violent offenders in order to free space for violent offenders. Criminal Alien Incarceration: $300 million, an increase of $170 million over 1995, to reimburse States for incarcerating illegal criminal aliens. Byrne Formula grants: $450 million in crime bill funds and direct appropriations for states to continue to use funds for more than 20 law enforcement purposes, including state and local drug task force efforts. Violent Crime and Drug Prevention initiatives: $158 million to better investigate, prosecute and deter perpetrators of violent crimes against women; $150 million to expand and build on the successes of the Drug Court Program; $78 million to target high crime areas with promising crime- prevention programs. "Today's budget request also allocates additional funding to boost federal law enforcement efforts to attack gang-related violent crime, drug trafficking and international organized crime," Reno said. These funds will provide the resources to: Federal Law Enforcement Initiatives: Build New and Expand Current Federal Prison Operations: $318 million to build three new federal prisons and fund the activation of seven new prisons, of which five will be privatized. Resources are also included for five expansion projects and to expand the use of alternatives to incarceration. New prisons scheduled to open in 1996 will add 9,197 beds, an increase of 13 percent over current levels. Improve Wiretap Capability -- $135 million to ensure the government's ability to conduct court- authorized wiretaps as the nation converts from analog to digital communications technology. A proposed 30 percent surcharge on civil monetary penalties and criminal fines will be used to fund $100 million to reimburse telecommunications carriers for modifying equipment, facilities and services. Crackdown on Violent Gangs: $5 million to hire 60 personnel, (40 attorneys and 20 support staff) for U.S. Attorneys' offices to aggressively and creatively use the full power of federal law enforcement to target and dismantle violent gangs. (DOJ) Crackdown on Heroin Trafficking: $4 million to enable the DEA to hire 30 new agents to address recent increases in heroin trafficking. In recent years heroin purity levels have steadily risen. Establish Eastern Europe Organized Crime Training Facility: $2 million for the FBI to establish an International Training Facility in Budapest, Hungary, to help stem the flow of, and to prevent future infusion of organized criminal activity into the U.S. from Eastern Europe, Russia and the former Soviet Republics. Open Beijing Organized Crime Office: $1 million to open a joint FBI/DEA office in Beijing, People's Republic of China (PRC), so agents can work closely with PRC law enforcement to combat Asian organized crime and drug trafficking. Expand Drug Treatment Programs: $1.7 million to add five residential drug treatment programs, providing additional drug treatment for up to 1,200 inmates in 1996 to ensure that federal inmates return to society drug-free. The budget request also includes over $1 billion for the Department and four other Executive Branch agencies to help control the border and help resolve the problem of criminal illegal aliens. These include: Strengthen control of our nation's borders: $269 million to significantly enhance the border control activities of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). In total, almost 1,500 Border Patrol agents, inspectors and other law enforcement personnel will be assigned to areas of highest activity along the Southern border. Remove thousands of criminal aliens from the United States: $178 million to implement a comprehensive detention and removal program -- the most intensive effort by any Administration to address a loophole in the immigration control system. These funds will enable INS to double the number of deportations, to a total of 111,280 in 1996. Increase sanctions against employers who hire illegal aliens: $82 million is requested for the INS, the U.S. Attorneys, and the Executive Office of Immigration Review to strengthen enforcement of immigration laws to reduce the "magnet effect" of lucrative U.S. jobs by boosting the costs to both employers and employees if they violate immigration and employment laws. "We have taken a fresh look at the functions and programs of our component organizations and headquarters operations, identifying many areas where we can restructure activities to better carry out our mission," Reno noted. "Office automation has enhanced communications and information sharing between the FBI and the DEA, eliminating duplicative investigation efforts in the U.S. and in foreign countries. All Department components and divisions are reviewing the size and mission of their operations with a view to streamlining them wherever possible. The FBI is continuing its redeployment of agents from headquarters to the field, supervisory ratios will be increased in all the law enforcement bureaus to enhance field operations, automation systems in the litigation components has resulted in reduced support staffing requirements. # # # 95-067