Feds pay $5.8 billion to jail criminal aliens
Government study over past 3 years reveals burden borne by taxpayers
The U.S. federal government spent $5.8 billion over the past three
years to incarcerate criminal aliens – nonresidents who are in the
country illegally or legally and convicted of a crime.
The report by the General Accounting Office – the investigative arm of
Congress – shows the number of criminal aliens in federal prisons
increased from about 42,000 at the end of 2001 to about 49,000 at the
end of last year.
The direct federal costs during the study's time frame were estimated
to be $4.2 billion, with federal reimbursements to state and local
governments totalling $1.6 billion through the State Criminal Alien
Assistance Program, or SCAAP.
The majority of criminal aliens were identified as citizens of Mexico.
In addition, state prisons in fiscal 2003 housed about 74,000 criminal
aliens. About 80 percent were in just five states -- Arizona,
California, Florida, New York and Texas.
Also, about 147,000 criminal aliens were jailed in 698 local
jurisdictions that received SCAAP reimbursement in 2003.
About 30 percent of those criminals were in five municipal and country
jails -- Los Angeles County, California; New York City, New York;
Orange County, California; Harris County, Texas; and Maricopa County,
Arizona.
As WorldNetDaily reported, an analysis of census data earlier this
year by the Federation for American Immigration Reform showed Texas'
illegal immigrant population is costing the state's taxpayers more
than $4.7 billion per year for education, medical care and
incarceration.
The uncompensated cost of incarcerating illegal aliens in Texas' state
and county prisons amounts to about $150 million a year -- not
including local jail detention costs or related law enforcement and
judicial expenditures or the monetary costs of the crimes that led to
their incarceration.
Last year, the Center for Immigration Studies used Census Bureau data
from 2002 to determine that the fiscal impact of illegal aliens across
the nation was $10 billion. The figure was derived from subtracting
taxes paid by illegals from the value of services they enjoy.
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