Amendment provides additional funding for incarceration of illegal immigrants

Washington, Jul 25, 2007 -  

House Conference Secretary John Carter (TX-31), in a bipartisan effort, introduced an amendment today to the Departments of Commerce, Justice and Science (CJS) Appropriations bill that would increase funding to reimburse state and local government for costs associated with incarcerating illegal aliens by $55 million, bringing the total amount of reimbursement funding to $460 million.

“We have a huge immigration problem in America, and nowhere is that problem more visible than in border states like Texas and California,” Congressman Carter said. “Securing our nation’s borders is the federal government’s responsibility and with that responsibility comes the duty of punishing illegal aliens who endanger our communities through criminal acts. Unfortunately, it is the state and local governments who feel the financial burden of incarcerating the growing number of illegal aliens.”

According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), in 2006 alone, the uncompensated cost of incarcerating illegal aliens in Texas’ state and county prisons amounted to at least $130.6 million. The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) is authorized to provide for state and local government costs of incarcerating criminal aliens. However, the real cost of incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens continues to be massively higher than federal funding levels provided through SCAAP. Last year, SCAAP reimbursements for the state of Texas amounted to $18.6 million, only 14 percent of the total cost of reimbursements. The amendment provides and additional $55 million for SCAAP, helping to ease the burden on our states, local governments and the law enforcement community.

The $55 million is in addition to the $30 million Carter successfully secured during the CJS Committee meeting. Prior to Carter’s involvement with the increase the total amount of SCAAP funding allocated to local and state law enforcement agencies was $375 million.

“At a time when state and local governments are being asked to do even more to protect our homeland, it is vital that the federal government provide the critical funding needed to compensate them for the costs of incarcerating illegal criminal immigrants,” Carter continued.

View Congressman Carter’s Speech on the House Floor at http://clips.shadowtv.net/media/stv/3343/8/2007/206/15/3343_8_20070725_153251_169.wmv