Letter to Barbara Mikulski, Chairman, Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies and Richard Shelby, Ranking Member

Letter

Sen. Cornyn Urges Congress To Reject Administration's Proposal & Fund SCAAP

Sends letter to Appropriations Committee with colleagues requesting full funding for program after President announced his intention to terminate SCAAP

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, the top Republican on the Immigration, Border Security and Refugees Subcommittee, joined several colleagues in pushing Congress to protect the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), through which local governments in Texas have received millions for the costs associated with incarcerating criminal illegal aliens. The bipartisan letter to the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies leaders requests Congress fund SCAAP despite President Obama's intentions to eliminate the program.

"The State Criminal Alien Assistance program, known as SCAAP, is an important reimbursement mechanism that partially fulfills federal responsibilities that are falling to states like Texas. Congress' failure to fix our broken immigration system has dropped the burden of prosecuting and incarcerating criminal aliens in the laps of the states, including Texas. Eliminating SCAAP reimbursement creates an unfunded mandate because state and local law enforcement in Texas must continue to enforce the laws against criminal aliens who are victimizing their own immigrant communities as well as Texans generally. I regret that the President wants to eliminate SCAAP and will do everything I can to reverse this cut in Congress. I will not stand for forcing Texas taxpayers to pick up the tab. This letter sends a strong message to President Obama that we are serious about keeping this important program in place," Sen. Cornyn said.

"For every dollar less that SCAAP reimburses states, a dollar less is available for critical public safety services. ... We will continue to make our case to the new Administration that SCAAP is an important component of the Department of Justice's support of state and local law enforcement," Sen. Cornyn and his colleagues wrote in the letter.

Joining Sen. Cornyn in sending the bipartisan letter were Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho.

Background

Sen. Cornyn strongly supports expanding the program to provide additional reimbursement to Texas communities that struggle to afford the costs associated with criminal illegal aliens in their cities. He co-sponsored the SCAAP Reimbursement Protection Act to expand and increase funding for the program. Sen. Cornyn was an original co-sponsor of the bill in the 110th Congress as well. Texas alone received $18 million in SCAAP funding in 2008, and Harris County has received more than $35 million since 2000.

Full text of letter

Dear Chairman Mikulski and Ranking Member Shelby:

We write to request that you include in the Fiscal Year 2010 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies bill at least the $400 million appropriated in Fiscal Year 2009 for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), and up to $950 million, the level authorized for Fiscal Year 2010 by the Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005 (P .L. 109-162).

Understanding the expenses that States and localities bear for the federal immigration system, Congress enacted the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) in 1994 to help reimburse States and localities for costs already spent on incarcerating criminal aliens. However, the funding for this program has been severely underfunded and only partially restored by Congress over the past decade.

For every dollar less that SCAAP reimburses states, a dollar less is available for critical public safety services. After the SCAAP funding cuts in 2003, the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department implemented an "early release" policy for prisoners convicted of misdemeanors. We can no longer afford to let our public safety services crumble under the weight of our immigration policies.

While the President's Budget does not include any funding for SCAAP, border protection and enforcement of immigration laws remains a federal responsibility. We will continue to make our case to the new Administration that SCAAP is an important component of the Department of Justice's support of state and local law enforcement.

We appreciate the Committee's commitment to this critical program during consideration of the Fiscal Year 2009 bill and look forward to improving upon last year's efforts. Thank you for consideration of these views.

Sincerely,