Posted on 07/17/2004 6:08:02 PM PDT by 4.1O dana super trac pak
WASHINGTON - Under new house legislation, California residents will continue to shoulder most of the financial burden for jailing illegal immigrants convicted of crimes.
A newly approved spending bill includes a total of $325 million to reimburse states like California with high numbers of illegal immigrants for the cost of incarcerating undocumented felons.
That's a slight increase over last year, but just a fraction of what California needs, officials estimate.
State officials estimate California will spend $711.2 million this year keeping undocumented felons behind bars. If the House funding remains steady, however, the state can expect to see only $130 million.
"California spends more than twice the entire federal appropiation each year to perform services that the federal government admits are their responsibility,' said Tim Ransdell, president of the Washington, D.C.-based California Institute for Federal Policy, athink tank.
'snip'
Because of restrictions on the funding, the federal government doesn't even reimburse states and counties for all of the illegal immigrants they house in local jails each year.
The Department of Justice, which administers the program, estimates that last year 270,000 illegal immigrants served jail time, about 108,000 of them in California. Yet the state recieved reimbursement for only 44,356 illegal felons.
Los Angeles County housed about 27,000 of the illegal immigrants, but was reimbursed $13.8 million, enough to cover costs for only 11,963 undocumented inmates.
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The Bush administration has sought to eliminate the program since 2001. Administration officials argue there is less need for the program because the federal government is tightening security.
When he was governor of Texas, Bush criticized Congress and the Clinton administration for underfunding SCAAP.(State Criminal Alien Assistance Program)
"If the federal government cannot do its job of enforcing the borders, then it owes the state monies to pay for its failure,' Bush said in 1995.
(Excerpt) Read more at whittierdailynews.com ...
It's no biggie. Taxes from illegals more than pay for this.
Just ask MALDEF. They wouldn't lie to you unknowingly.
Dumbest thing said on FR for quite some time. Illegals take billions more OUT of the state in terms of infrastructure, health care, schooling, etc. than they put in. Last time they looked, it was somewhere in ghe 3019 billion range.
Want our numbers? Take 'em! I mean 35 Billion in debt is no big deal, right?
If they would spend half that money setting up a state-funded border patrol, they'd save the other half, easy.
3-10 billion (bad typo)
Lemmee guess, you refuse to provide links and I should do my own research, right?
California gets stuck with all these imprisoned illegals because California screws itself by being too nice and accommodating to illegal aliens. Many California cities forbid their police to determine the immigration status of an arrestee, and don't cooperate with the INS. So the Feds can be blamed for lax immigration enforcement but so can the state of California.
You should mention that your figures come from your own research of immigration when posting them.
Schools are paid by property taxes, which renters all contribute to indirectly regardless of their citizenship status. Even so, it is in the interest of everyone that all children who live here are educated.
God forbid Congress passes a law requiring all states AND cities to cooperate with the INS and turn in all illegals discovered for deportation. That would just make TOO much sense.
I have a modest proposal. Rather than jail them. let's bus them to Washington DC and dump them off...
Ship them back to their home country and pay the foreign prison to incarcerate them there. It's gotta be cheaper.
But I thought that most illegals were just law-abiding people who are only here to do the jobs Americans won't do. You mean, that's not true? I'm so shocked. < /sarcasm >
Don't we have enough of a protected criminal class in Washington D.C. already?
Oh, could it be that they rake off their percentages through remittances, undercut wages and receive political contributions from said bankers and employers, respectively? Don't pretend you're some kind of ultimate authority, especially when your new and haven't bothered to put anything on your About Page. For all I know you're Vicente Fox himself.
Why are we jailing illegals? Why not deport them....cheaper in the long run. Better yet, keep them from coming in and staying.
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