Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise to introduce a bill, the SCAAP Reauthorization Act, on behalf of myself and Mr. Kyl, to assist with alleviating the costs of illegal immigration to State and local governments by reauthorizing the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, SCAAP, though 2015. We are pleased to be joined today by Senators Schumer, Cornyn, Boxer, Hutchison, Bingaman, McCain, Durbin, and Crapo. I believe that immigration policy and control of our borders is exclusively a Federal responsibility. Yet many undocumented criminal aliens are housed in our State prisons and our county jails at a cost that rises into the hundred of millions of dollars. Understanding the expenses that States and localities bear, Congress enacted the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, (SCAAP), in 1994 as part of the Violent Crime Control Act. The program was designed to help reimburse States and localities for the costs of incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens. Under this program, States can be reimbursed for costs for housing undocumented aliens who are convicted of a felony or two or more misdemeanors in violation of State or local law and incarcerated for at least 4 consecutive days. Over the years, Senator Kyl and I have worked to increase Congressional funding of SCAAP. Last year, Congress appropriated 393 million dollars to SCAAP. While this is only a fraction of the costs that States and localities bear for housing undocumented criminal aliens, even this level of funding is critical.…”