Scrapping SCAAP

One of the most troublesome budget cuts in the new budget is the President's dismantling of SCAAP, the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program. California received $118 million dollars last year through this program for incarcerating aliens for the federal government. Total program funding last year was $400 million.

This morning I read the remarks of an Arizona Sheriff, Larry Dever of Cochise County, who said that the Federal funds only took care of about 18% of the costs associated with jailing illegals, down from the highest level of about 33% of the costs covered.

The administration says that they would rather put the money into better border enforcement and not new vehicles and bonuses for local agencies. The reality is this is another huge unfunded federal mandate that will break local municipalities. No matter how effective the new border plan is, illegal aliens will need to be incarcerated and border security is the responsibility of the federal government.

According to the Bureau of Justice Assistance, SCAAP provides federal payments to states and localities that incurred correctional officer salary costs for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens with at least one felony or two misdemeanor convictions for violations of state or local law, and incarcerated for at least four consecutive days during the reporting period.

Border lawmakers from both parties are urging the federal government to fully fund the program. Some estimates for necessary funding are as high as $1.5 billion dollars. Interestingly, Janet Napolitano, our Homeland Security Secretary, petitioned Bush not to make cuts in the program when she was Governor of Arizona.