Prisons fight to keep illegal alien funding...

Prisons fight to keep illegal alien funding


Federal aid to counties to hold criminal illegal aliens again in danger


By Darryl R. Isherwood
The Morning Call (Allentown, PA), April 2, 2008



A proposal to eliminate federal aid to states and counties to help foot the bill for incarcerating illegal immigrants could cost Pennsylvania taxpayers more than $2 million next year if approved by Congress.

The funding, awarded last year to the state along with 16 counties and Philadelphia, has been targeted for elimination in the latest federal budget.

But local lawmakers say cutting the money would be unfair to state residents who would be forced to ante up. Rather than being eliminated, some officials believe the State Criminal Alien Assistance program should be expanded.

'We get shortchanged all the time by the federal and state government,' said Lehigh County Commissioner Chairman Percy Dougherty. 'Every time they cut back programs we have to put money in. With the illegal aliens they should be paying 100 percent of not only the incarceration fees but medical and prosecution expenses also.'

The money covers illegal immigrants who are incarcerated because they were convicted of certain crimes and is not for those detained solely on immigration violations, according to the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance.

Lehigh County received more than $73,000 last year from the grant program, about 70 percent of the cost to house 151 illegal immigrants. If it's cut, the money 'comes right out of our taxpayers' pockets,' Dougherty said.

Last week, the commissioners voted to ask the county's four federal representatives for help in getting the funding reinstated to the budget proposal.

Bucks County officials said housing illegal immigrants costs the county $685,987 per year, and only about a quarter of that is covered by the grant.

'With the increasing costs of corrections budgets, any revenue to support the system is critical,' said Bucks County Director of Corrections Harris Gubernick.

A spokeswoman for the federal Office of Management and Budget said the administration would prefer to use the program money elsewhere as part of its efforts to stem the tide of illegal immigrants entering the country.

The grant program goes largely unmonitored and the money can be used for a wide variety of things, including cars and supplies, spokeswoman Christin Baker said. One county in Washington state used the money to purchase ergonomic chairs for corrections officials.

'This is a grant program that we believe is unfocused,' Baker said. 'It's just not a very accountable program. We think the money can be better spent elsewhere.'

Baker said the $400 million has been put into border patrol funding, which has increased 159 percent since 2001. In the long run, she said, stiffer border patrol will do more to help the counties.

But elimination of the grant program is not guaranteed. President Bush has proposed cutting the program in each of the past six budgets, but federal lawmakers have succeeded in reinstating the money.

This year, several legislators have taken up the charge, including U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who is the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Specter was a supporter of a Senate budget amendment introduced last month that would fund $950 million for the program for fiscal year 2009.

Specter also has sponsored legislation that would streamline the process of deporting criminal illegal immigrants. The legislation, introduced in March, would impose sanctions on countries that refuse to take back illegal immigrants convicted of a crime in the United States.

U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-15 of Lehigh County, who received the request from the Lehigh commissioners, said he is also in favor of reinstating the money.

'This program is very important to help county and state governments pay for illegal aliens,' Dent said. 'Ultimately many of these aliens should be detained in federal facilities.'



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