Speech #1040019920

In response to that amendment. the President requested about half the amount needed for such reimbursement in this fiscal year. and Congress apprcved $130 million. or onefifth of what is necessary. This amendment Is an effort to ensure the appropriation of the full amount States and localities need. Criminal aliens are people who have entered our country In violation of Federal laws. that makes their incarceration a Federal responsibility. and thus a cost that should be borne by all U.S. citizens. not just those who live in regions with large numbers of illegal immigrants. As the House of Representatives recognized with the recent passage of unfunded mandate legislation. the Federal Government should not continue to pass the costs of Federal actionsor in this case. lack of effective Federal action--onto State and local governments. Yet that Is precisely what we have been doing by making States and localities pay for the Federal Governments failure to stop illegal immigration. While State and local governments have the responsibility for incarcerating criminal aliens and processing their cases. they have no jurisdiction over the enforcement of Immigration laws. no authority to deport aliens who are convicted of crimes. and no authority to ensure that those deported are not permitted to reenter the country. Congress recognized the unfairness of this situation and acknowledged the Federal Governments responsibility for the criminal alien population in the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act [IRCA]. Section 501 of the act specifically authorizes the reimbursement to States. of costs incurred in the imprisonment of illegal aliens. Unfortunately. no funds were appropriated for this purpose until last year. and the amount appropriated was not nearly enough to cover the full costs. In todays Los Angeles Times. Speaker GINGRICH was quoted as declaring that the cost of imprisoning Illegal immigrants is a "Federal responsibility." and calling on Congress to approve $630 million in reimbursement to States. I could not agree more. and I am glad that the Speaker decided to champion this issue that some of us from affected communities have been arguing for quite some time. However. unless we adopt this amendment. we will have no real assurance that full funding for State reimbursement will be forthcoming. There are between 23.000 and 35.000 undocumented aliens incarcerated in State prisons. The States which have significant numbers of criminal aliens in their prisonsthat is. over 2 percent of their prison populationinclude not just California. Florida.