Newsroom

WASHINGTON —U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Chairman of the Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship subcommittee, on Tuesday applauded Senate passage of a bipartisan bill to help border counties and localities bear the financial burden of incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens. Cornyn, an original co-sponsor of the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) Reauthorization Act of 2005 (S. 188), said it will help address the "unfunded mandate imposed on border states ." "When the federal government fails to live up to its responsibilities on the border, states and counties shouldn’t – and often can’t – pick up the tab," Cornyn said. "For too long the federal government has neglected the enormous financial burdens our failed immigration policies have placed on local law enforcement. This legislation is an important step toward putting that to an end." The bill will assist states such as Texas whose costs for incarcerating criminal illegal immigrants continue to be significantly higher than federal funding levels. It is sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and was passed in the Senate unanimously late Monday evening. Below are highlights on the bill’s importance and what it will do:

• States and localities routinely bear the costs associated with incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens once they enter the criminal justice system.
• Costs for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens for state and localities continue to be significantly higher than federal funding levels.As such, federal funding for the SCAAP program needs to be substantially increased to cover the remaining un-reimbursed costs.
• All 50 states, the District of Columbia , Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands requested reimbursement through the SCAAP program in fiscal year 2004.For that year, Congress appropriated $300 million, of which $281,605,292 was awarded.
• For a breakdown of awards go to www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/scaap.html and click on FY 2004 SCAAP Awards.Historically states and localities receive less than half of the costs expended by them in housing undocumented criminal aliens in reimbursement from the SCAAP program.

the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) Reauthorization Act of 2005 appropriates money to the states to be used only for activities related to the incarceration of criminal aliens.The amounts appropriated are as follows:

• (A) such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2005;
• (B)$750,000,000 for fiscal year 2006;
• (C) $850,000,000 for fiscal year 2007; and
• (D) $950,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2008 through 2011.

A similar bill was introduced in the House by Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.). In April, Sens. Cornyn and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) announced their intentions to introduce legislation that will dramatically strengthen enforcement, bolster border security, and comprehensively reform our immigration laws. They plan to introduce the comprehensive legislation by the end of the summer following a thorough review of immigration laws, which includes an ongoing series of hearings. As senators from Texas and Arizona , Cornyn and Kyl represent approximately 85 percent of the nation’s southern border. Among the goals of the hearings are to determine which challenges facing our broken immigration system can be solved with more resources or additional legal tools, and which require more fundamental and comprehensive reforms to current immigration law and other domestic policies, such as a temporary work and return program.