When irate citizens challenge their state and local officials
to come clean on just how much it is costing us to jail criminal
aliens a common refrain is, "It's not in our mandate
to determine a criminal's legal status. That is a federal
issue." Most major media organs are accommodating of this
position and claim that hard numbers on this issue are "difficult
to determine."
However, when federal taxpayer-financed subsidies become available, the
magic of "free money" fills the air. Formerly incapable local
prison bureaucrats suddenly gain the ability to reliably identify the numbers and
costs of criminal aliens in their systems.
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This magic has been provided for several years now by the State
Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) administered under
the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau
of Justice Assistance. The program was originally created
to assist border states (rather than, as the name might
imply, criminal aliens) with the costs of incarcerating
illegal immigrants who went on to violate local laws against
drug running, theft, assault, murder, etc.
As anyone who has studied the nature of government could have
guessed, the SCAAP program has expanded across the nation right
along with waves of illegal immigrants. This is in spite of
being designated
in 2003 by the White House's Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) ExpectMore.gov program as a non-performing program
that should
be terminated.
Apparently, someone in the OMB discovered that it was too easy
for state and local governments to cheat on their numbers since,
"Neither states and localities nor the Federal government
can easily determine the citizenship or immigration status of
suspected aliens."
Remember now, this is coming to you from the same federal government
that is claims to be protecting us from known terrorists. (Note:
Since no one seems to be listening to the ExpectMore.gov people,
we should wonder how they rate themselves.)
The SCAAP program is quite simple: Fill out some Federal forms
listing your total costs associated with incarcerating those
you have identified as likely criminal aliens in your jail system.
(If you need help, there are plenty
of consultants willing to help you along for a cut of the
take.) File your results. Get money from the Congressionally
established criminal alien assistance kitty based on your percentage
of the total claims submitted.
In fiscal 2005, 758 participating state, county and city jails
divied up almost a $300 million dollar pot. In 2006 the pot
expanded to over $400 million dollars. Some states like North Carolina
doubled their year-on-year take to over $4 million dollars. Select
counties did even better. Forsyth County, North Carolina jumped
up from raking in a paltry in $69,000 in 2005 to over $264,000
in 2006. Was this a crime wave of illegals, or just more accurate
accounting? Local taxpayers and journalists should be asking
their sheriff.
Certainly, the federal paperwork on this type of program should
be accessible to the public. To generate further interest, local
citizens should keep in mind that the SCAAP payments from the
federal government cover only a portion of the costs
incurred by all the participating local jurisdictions.
Wouldn't you and your neighbors like to know what your
local jailer submitted to the federal government as the total
cost criminal aliens were costing you? You can start your citizen investigation
process by checking the federal awards for 2005
and 2006
(These are listed in alphabetical order by state zip
code.)
After you get done with your local law enforcement officials,
you can organize with fellow citizens you meet along the way
to start asking your local school boards to report on the growth
in costs of their English as a second language program in your
public school systems. It's a great way to become a notable
figure in your local town.
Addendum:
A recent addition to the SCAAP
homepage includes this notification:
NEW! Use of SCAAP
Awards: The Department of Justice Reauthorization
Act of 2005 (Pub. L. 109-162, Title XI) included the following
requirement regarding the use of SCAAP funds: "Amounts
appropriated pursuant to the authorization of appropriations
in paragraph (5) that are distributed to a State or political
subdivision of a State, including a municipality, may be used
only for correctional purposes." Beginning with
FY 2007 SCAAP awards, SCAAP funds must be used for correctional
purposes only. Jurisdictions receiving SCAAP awards
will be asked to report the projected use of these funds at
the time the award is accepted.
We imagine the 2005 act mentioned in the announcement is
in lieu of terminating the program as recommended
by the OMB. How about that though? Local sheriff
and police departments take subsidies from the federal government
and the Feds start requiring they report what they are going
to do with the money. Like the ICE
program that federalizes local law enforcement personal
to help catch illegals, the SCAAP program is also about to become
another tentacle of the central government wrapped around our
formerly independent local law enforcement agencies.
