John Drake: “this amendment reduces the Office of the Secretary of Management $10.4 million, and increases ICE salaries and the…”

“this amendment reduces the Office of the Secretary of Management $10.4 million, and increases ICE salaries and the expense account by $9.1 million, restoring the funding that was in the President's budget to fund the 287(g) program. I chose this account because between 2007 and 2008 budgets, it has increased 60 percent, or a total increase of $89 million. The 287(g) program provides training, technology, and resources to local law enforcement officers to work with the Federal Government, with ICE, to identify illegal aliens who have broken our laws. This is a voluntary program available to both our State and local governments. Currently, it is implemented in 13 locations. One of the most prominent of these is Sheriff Pendergraf in North Carolina, who has detained and deported 1,900 illegal criminal aliens in the last year. America saw the very tragic accident that occurred in Virginia Beach that took the lives of two beautiful young women at the hands of an illegal alien drunk driver. And, Mr. Chairman, this individual had been arrested and detained on DUI offenses in the past and was released onto our streets. I believe that immigration is a Federal responsibility, but we need the help of local and State law enforcement officials. We need to identify the gaps and figure out how to bridge those gaps.”