Speech #1000000811

To declare its resources taxed. personnel overburdened. and institutional capacity distended. is an understatement indeed. Many factors contribute to this sorry state. the proposal I offer today deals with only one such factor. but an important one nonetheless. Illegal aliens arrested and convicted of crimesall too often drugrelated crimesare putting an additional strain on our already crowded courts and prisons. In New York City. for example. jail overcrowding has grown more acute with the spreading use of crack and cocaine. City jails presently house 13.524 inmates or 104.4 percent of capacity. The New York City Police Department estimates that between 2.200 and 2.500 illegal aliens are arrested annually for felony crimes. the majority of which are drug related. As of August 1. 1986. a total of 3.371 inmates in New York State prisons reported birth in a foreign country. This represents 9 percent of the total inmate population. The cost of incarcerating these offenders is estimated at $67 million. Our overcrowded criminal justice system has resulted in many criminal suspects being released without prosecution or imprisonment. thereby frustrating the efforts to fight drug abuse. The bill I am introducing. the Criminal Alien Departure Act of 1987 is a step toward creating more jail space by deporting drug crime suspects who are in this country illegally. and individuals who have already been convicted of such crimes. Specifically. the bill establishes a $5 million pilot program for New York City for purposes of using Immigration and Naturalization Service agents identify illegal aliens at the time of arrest for drugrelated crimes. and determine whether they are amenable to deportation. (If the individual does not agree to expedited deportation. they are entitled to proceed to trial under our judicial system.) A U.S. attorney would then review the matter to determine whether the voluntary departure of the illegal alien would be of more benefit to society than prosecution for the crime. Once approved by a U.S. attorney. the individuals would be deported before spending more of the limited resources of the criminal justice system. INS agents would also be assigned to prisons to identify illegal aliens who are already imprisoned. Under the program. the INS will then have record of the individuals who have been deported. thereby ensuring that they will not be able to enter the country again. I propose to try this plan on a pilot basis for 1 year in New York City where jail overcrowding has reached crisis proportions. At the end of the year. the attorney general will prepare a report to Congress detailing the numbers of illegal aliens deported. estimate the cost savings resulting from the program in lieu of prosecuting and incarcerating such individuals. and recommend whether the program should be instituted on a wider basis. This is not a cureall to the prison overcrowding problem. As I stated at the outset. many factors share the blame for this state of affairs. However. removing at least part of the illegal alien population from the criminal justice system will help unclog our courts and prisons. thereby allowing us to deal more effectively with criminals and criminal suspects who are in this country legally. This bill also represents a continuation of our commitment to fighting the drug problem in this country by deporting individuals engaged in drug crimes. keeping them off our streets. Therefore. I urge my colleagues to support this program on a trial basis. in the hope that it may later be expanded on the national level.