The Republican Party of Riverside County

SACRAMENTO – Senator John J. Benoit (R-Bermuda Dunes) introduced legislation today calling upon Congress and the President of the United States to restore funding for the State Criminal Alien Assistant Program (SCAAP) in the 2010 fiscal year. Senate Joint Resolution 12 is aimed at pressuring the federal government to reimburse California for the full cost of incarcerating illegal immigrants.

“California continues to be shortchanged by the federal government when it comes to picking up the tab for illegal immigrants in our prisons,” said Senator Benoit. “Unless we act decisively to claim what’s rightfully ours, our State’s finances will continue to hemorrhage by the hundreds of millions lost each year to this federal obligation.”

United States Code (8 U.S.C. 1231(I)(2)) requires the United States’ Attorney General to either “enter into a contractual arrangement which provides for compensation to the State… with respect to the incarceration of the undocumented criminal alien; or… take the undocumented criminal alien into the custody of the Federal Government and incarcerate the alien.”

If the United States Attorney General elects to compensate the State, the statute requires the Attorney General to determine the compensation based on the “average cost of incarceration of a prisoner to the relevant State.”

According to statistics obtained from the United States Department of Justice, illegal immigrants incarcerated in California prisons comprised 15 percent of the State’s prison population in 2008. Each inmate costs California taxpayers an estimated $48,536 per year to house in State prison. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spent $662.4 million housing illegal immigrants in the 2005-06 fiscal year, a cost that has risen to $970 million during this current fiscal year due to an 11 percent increase in the population of illegal immigrant prisoners.

Currently, the federal government provides only a partial “take it or leave it” payment. This payment, through SCAAP, leaves Californians paying 89% of the costs to imprison illegal immigrants. President Obama recently proposed eliminating all SCAAP funding as part of his fiscal year 2010 budget proposal.

Since 2000, California has been forced to expend almost $9 billion out of our State budget to cover federal shortfalls on their legal obligation to reimburse our State for illegal immigrants.

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Senator John J. Benoit, a former volunteer fire captain and 31-year law enforcement veteran, represents the 37th Senate District, which includes Anza, Banning, Beaumont, Bermuda Dunes, Cabazon, Calimesa, Canyon Lake, Cherry Valley, Corona, Desert Hot Springs, El Cerrito, Hemet, Home Gardens, Homeland, Idyllwild, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Lake Elsinore, Lakeland Village, Lakeview, March AFB, Menifee, Moreno Valley, Norco, Nuevo, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Perris, Rancho Mirage, San Jacinto, Valle Vista, Winchester, and Woodcrest. Further information regarding Senator Benoit is available on his web site at: www.sen.ca.gov/benoit.