The Arizona Republic enthralls with States may get stuck with migrant tab:
Arizona taxpayers may be stuck next year with paying the full tab of jailing thousands of illegal immigrants convicted of crimes.A billion here, a billion there. Pretty soon we'll be talking about real money!
Members of Congress left town last month to campaign for Tuesday's elections without reaching an agreement with the Bush administration on funding a Justice Department program that provided $546 million last year to states.
All 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories, including Guam, have shared in the federal dollars distributed through the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program since 1995.
Arizona, California, New York, Texas and New Jersey got the bulk of the federal money.
California received $220 million, about 40 percent of the total. Arizona got more than $24 million.
Congress and the administration are far apart on a compromise. The administration wants to kill the program. Lawmakers want the funding increased to $750 million for fiscal 2003, which began Oct. 1.
Lawmakers, especially those from border states, have long argued that it is the federal government's responsibility to reimburse states because it is charged with securing the nation's borders.
"When the federal government falls short in its efforts to control illegal immigration, it must bear the responsibility for the financial and human consequences of this failure," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.
But Bush administration officials argue that the program is not directly related to fighting crime and doesn't "advance the core mission of the Justice Department."
Kyl and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who are leading the Senate fight to increase funding, said states are spending $1.6 billion to keep criminal illegal immigrants behind bars.
And maybe the drones in the Justice Department (home of the INS) ought to give a little more thought to their "core mission".
