Speech #1040016285

Let me remind my colleagues. however. that when we consider the staggering load of unfunded mandates the Federal Government imposes on State and local governments. southern border States such as Texas bear a huge share of the burden. Last year. I asked Congress to allocate $350 million to the affected States for incarcerating illegal alien felons. Congress took a significant step In rectifying this situation when it appropriated $130 million for the purpose. This was the first time in history the Federal Government has ever acknowledged its fiscal obligation to States directly impacted by Federal policiesand failures. But that appropriation was merely an initial installment on what Is actually a huge. crippling debt incurred by the Federal Government. This year I am calling on President Clinton to include that $350 million allocation in his budget proposalto move closer toward Federal acknowledgment of the true magnitude of the costs of illegal immigration to this country. Illegal aliens. who enter our States and take up permanent. unlawful residence. are there as a result of the Federal Governments failure to carry out one of Its most important functionsthe securing of our borders. Texas. California. Arizona. New Mexico. and even Florida. absorb the brunt of these costs. My State and others similarly affected are required by Federal law and Federal courts to pay for incarcerating Illegals who commit crimes and also for the costs of education. welfare. medical services. and a host of other governmentfunded programs serving illegal aliens. The Federal Government underwrites very little of these expenditures. But under the threat of penalty imposed by Federal law State and local taxpayers are coerced Into footing the bill. Texas. alone. must spend more than $60 million a year to keep illegal alien felons in prisonCalifornia nearly $400 million. Texas also spends more than $60 million annually on unreimbursed Medicaid services to illegal aliens. Texas like other Statesis experiencing a seemingly insoluble school funding crisis. due in part to the presence of illegal alien children which the Federal courts have ruled must be educated. In several Texas school districts. close to 50 percent of the students enrolled are the children of illegal aliens. In some cases. children cross the border from Mexico every day to attend school In Texas. In La Joya. a small lower Rio Grande Valley town near Brownsville. a third of the school districts enrollment comes from Mexico. Yet school officials are forbidden to ask students for proof of residencyin their school district. A study by Rice University in Houston estimates that Texas pays. all told. $1.4 billion a year to provide federally mandated services to illegal immigrants. This is $1.4 billion a year we do not have. or. if we did. could be put to better use for Texas taxpayers. For instance. that $1.4 billion would more than make up for the funding shortfall In Texas schools. The situation has become intolerableand resulted unfortunately in a backlash against all immigrants such as we witnessed in California during the debate over proposition 187. I am thankful the situation In Texas has not yet reached this point. But the unfunded mandates situation has reached the crisis stage in its impact on our State and local budgets. To put it plainly. the Federal Government is shifting the responsibility for these mandated expenditures onto the backs of Texas taxpayers. Texans are being forced to provide social benefits to individuals who have broken our laws. jumping ahead of those who play by the ruleswhile the Federal Government looks the other way. Illegal immigrants ought not be entitled to State taxpayers money for simply crossing the borderand breaking our laws In the process. In the past. I have supported the assignment of more Border Patrol agents to make our border areas more secure. The immigration reform bill I introduced in the 103d Congress would have put 6.000 more agents in the field to stop this flagrant and habitual violation of U.S. law. Now my colleague. Senator GRAMM. has introduced another illegal immigration bill which would put even more new agents on the border. realizing that we are going to have to get serious about stopping the influx of people who are illegal into out country. One of the reasons I am a strong advocate of the unfunded mandate legislation is that it will enforce a kind of truthinlawmaking we have not seen In Washington for decadesputting a clear price tag on programs and policies when they are foisted onto the States. This correction In our countrys course is long overdue.