Bush’s plan to cut payments protested
By Dana Wilkie
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
The next time a San Diego sheriff’s deputy arrests a man who tries to steal a car, hauls him to a county detention center, starts asking questions and discovers he’s in the country http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2240, here’s what will happen:
The tax supported district attorney’s and public defender’s offices will handle his case, a tax-supported judge will preside if it goes to trial, he’ll spend an average three weeks in the local jail at $100 each day, a state prison could house him for years at $121 a day, and tax-funded probation officers will follow his progress.
Only http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=1293 that will he be deported.
For years, the White House and border communities such as San Diego have argued over who should pay for all this. As a group of border states yesterday unveiled a report on the costs of incarcerating illegal immigrants linked to crimes, President Bush is again trying to eliminate all federal reimbursement for the task. The recurring battle over this reimbursement – known in Washington parlance as the “State Criminal Alien Assistance Program,” or SCAAP – has a predictable rhythm: For six years, the Republican president has axed the money from his budget plan, lawmakers from border states have howled, and budget writers have held press conferences, hearings and behind-door talks to put some money back in.
Still, those reimbursements have declined steadily during the 14 years the program has been in place.
“Gov. Schwarzenegger believes the federal government should live up to its responsibility and secure the border,” said spokesman Bill Maile. “Cutting back the program would be unacceptable and a serious hit to our state.”
Congress approved the reimbursement program in 1994, and it helped counties, cities and states that were struggling to provide not only jails for illegal immigrants, but also funding for prosecutors, public defenders, translation services, courtrooms, judges, probation services and juvenile detention.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080306/news_1m6immig.html