Political Quotes

“Today Senator Hutchison and I are introducing two bills that will significantly alleviate the burden of illegal immigration on State and local governments: the SCAAP Reimbursement Protection Act of 2008 and the Ensure Timely SCAAP Reimbursement Act. These bills will amend the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, SCAAP, statute to ensure that states and localities receive more funding for costs associated with incarcerating criminal aliens, and that these reimbursements are given out in a timely manner. The cost of incarcerating criminal aliens is high. In California alone, the State spent more than $900 million in 2007 to house over 20,000 criminal aliens. Congress enacted SCAAP in 1994 to help reimburse States and localities for the cost of arrest, incarceration, and transportation of these aliens. However, in 2003, the Department of Justice, DOJ, reinterpreted the statute. Now States are only reimbursed for what they spend incarcerating convicted criminal aliens and only when the arrest and conviction occur in the same fiscal year. The DOJ reinterpretation has significantly cut the reimbursement local governments are eligible to receive for incarcerating and processing illegal aliens. This reinterpretation is even more devastating because SCAAP is consistently under-funded.”