Speech #1040011435

There was certainly no intent to deny the opportunity to present this language. I also want to say I agree very much with the spirit in which the Senator offers this amendment. My State of Arizona suffers relatively from the same kind of expenses that are Imposed on States like California and other border States that have experienced a tremendous increase In illegal immigrationover the last several months in particular. but certainly over the last few years. In fact. It is estimated in the State of Arizona tile cost of incarcerating illegal felons in our prisons is in the neighborhood of 3100 million. This year. just in the first few weeks of this year. the Tucson sector has experienced record high apprehensions of illegal immigrants coming across the border. part of which is due to the additional agents put in California and Texas and therefore illegal immigration appears to be funneling through Arizona. So my State is certainly experiencing this problem. I have been trying to work with the Attorney General to have an allocation of more agents for the Arizona border to prevent this problem and the attendant expenses. So I certainly understand the problem and associate myself with the remarks of the Senator from California about the need to begin this reimbursement process. Under the crime bill. of course. last year $1 billion was authorized for reimbursement for incarceration of illegal aliens. The first tranche of that money has come to the States. but it is not enough. Where I disagree with the Senator from California. and why I will be moving to table the amendment. has to do with the fact that this amendment is not well drawn and is in the wrong place. It has no business on the unfunded mandates legislation. And second. it Is not really necessary. The Immigration Reform Act of 1990 establishes a commission to study precisely the costs that are involved here. the costs associated with providing services to illegal immigrants. As a matter of fact. it calls for a report. Because the Appropriations Committee last year felt that this was so important. It appropriated an additional $400.000 beyond the request in order to expedite this report. As a matter of fact. let me read from the report language from the appropriations committee. The committee says: The Committee is supportive of the Commission on Immigration Reforms mandate and the request for funds as submitted. In reviewing the broad range of issues to be examined by the Commission. however. the Committee Is particularly concerned about the quality of the data currently available on the costs and benefits of immigrants. especially unauthorized immigrants. and the vast range of estimates on this topic. Then the committee concludes: To that end. the Committee has included $400.000 above the request to enable the Commission to Join with the National Academy of Sciences In a collaborative effort to address these methodological Issues and provide a higher level of credibility to Inmigration cost data. It is my belief that when this information Is available it will be imperative for the Federal Government to then establish a plan for reimbursement of States for the expenses attendant to the Governments failure to control the border. But that Is different from an unfunded mandates. I would like to take us back to the bill. The Presiding Officer authored this bill. and understands full well that it is designed to deal with the problem of unfunded Federal mandates and the costs associated with the illegal immigration are not unfunded mandates. They are. rather. costs associated with the failure of the Federal Government to perform an obligation which we all recognize it has to perform. But it is not an unfunded mandate.