U.S. Border Control

Federal government should reimburse local law enforcement for costs of criminal illegals

If President Bush cannot push a comprehensive immigration-reform package through Congress, the least he can do is fully fund one item lawmakers on both sides of the aisle at least partly agree on — border enforcement. This is an area in which the federal government is failing to meet its responsibilities.

In 1994, Congress created the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, or SCAAP, as a way to reimburse states and local governments for the arrest, incarceration and transportation costs associated with illegal entrants who commit crimes.

Since then, there's been plenty of arresting but not much reimbursing. It shouldn't be that way.

Protecting the borders is a federal responsibility, and if Washington isn't going to do the job itself, it should pay back border communities for the costs they unfairly shoulder for helping to keep the rest of the country safer.

Tanis J. Salant, a researcher in the University of Arizona's School of Public Administration and Policy, told an immigration forum in Phoenix last year that in fiscal 2006 the 24 U.S. counties that border Mexico accumulated $192 million in costs to process criminal illegal entrants. Of that total, $26.4 million in costs were incurred by Arizona's four border counties.

Salant said counties usually recoup about 9 percent of their costs through assistance program funding, a figure supported by Ralph Ogden, Yuma County sheriff.

"The federal government comes through and says they're doing wonderful things because they give us SCAAP money," Ogden said at the immigration forum in December.

"Well, for the last four years the average amount of money they've given us is about 10 cents on the dollar. So they're really doing us a hell of a favor," he said sarcastically.

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., is spearheading an effort to improve reimbursements for border communities. Giffords and 40 other members of Congress sent a letter to President Bush asking him to fully fund the assistance program, which Congress has authorized for $950 million in fiscal 2009. However, Bush's budget plan has no funding for the program whatsoever.

Arizona Democrats Raúl Grijalva, Ed Pastor and Harry Mitchell also signed on to the letter, while the state's four Republican representatives have not.

In the letter, the lawmakers wrote that without full funding state and local governments risk being "overwhelmed by costs that are more properly the federal government's responsibility."

"Considering the immigration challenge in America," the lawmakers wrote, "underfunding SCAAP places a significant cost burden on state and local governments, stretching their resources and hampering their ability to protect our communities and uphold the law. Communities across the country continue to face extraordinary costs associated with incarcerating undocumented criminals."

Congress, and Arizona's congressional delegation in particular, should support the move to fund the assistance program.

Arizona is facing a budget deficit that will in one way or another trickle down to the counties, so every dollar that local governments can get from Washington is a dollar that can be spent locally.

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said SCAAP funding is essential. "I loudly applaud Congresswoman Giffords and her colleagues for doing what is right," Dupnik said in a press release. "Our budget situation is dire. On any given day, we have 200 illegal aliens in our jail on state charges. This is extremely expensive."
Giffords deserves credit for trying to get the federal government to accept its responsibility to protect the border.

Enforcement doesn't end at the border, it also extends to law officers, jails and courts that deal with illegal entrants each day. Federal money should follow the same path.