Speech #1050094891

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1493. a bill to authorize the Immigration and Naturalization Service to establish a permanent program to identify criminal illegal immigrants in local jails around the country. I am particularly pleased because this bill is patterned after an enormously successful pilot program that has been in operation in my district since last November. When I was first elected to Congress in 1992. I immediately began hearing from law enforcement officials in my district about the tremendous burden that criminal illegal immigrants were putting on local jails. In my district and around the country. local authorities have been forced to house and process criminals. only to later find out that some are in the United States illegally. and could have been deported when first identified. Working closely with my congressional colleagues from Orange County. we looked for ways to help local communities solve this problem. At our insistence. last years Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act established a pilot program in the Anaheim City Jail that identified. prior to arraignment. illegal immigrants who had been picked up for various crimes. Once identified. the illegal immigrants were immediately placed in deportation proceedings rather than clogging our local judicial system. In just the first 3 months that this program was in effect in Anaheim. INS officials placed holds on 338 inmates. nearly 17 percent of all those the jail processed. These criminal illegal immigrants were then removed into INS deportation proceedings. rather than remaining the responsibility of Anaheim. saving the local government the significant costs associated with housing and processing these criminals. Because this pilot program was such a success in Anaheim. I am an original cosponsor of the bill we are considering today that would authorize the INS to continue the current program in Anaheim. and institute similar programs in other jails through my district and around the country. in communities with the highest concentration of illegal immigrants. Judging from what I have seen in Anaheim. this is a program that would provide tremendous benefits to many communities that are being inundated with criminal illegal immigrants. Preventing illegal immigration is a Federal responsibility. Therefore. it is incumbent on the Federal Government to assist local authorities in combating crimes committed by illegal immigrants. I urge all my colleagues to support this bill.