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La Serna students succeed Funding for jailing illegals falls short Officials: Burden on state unfair By Lisa Friedman , Staff Writer WASHINGTON -- Under new House legislation, California residents will continue to shoulder most of the financial burden for jailing illegal immigrants convicted of crimes. A newly approved spending bill includes a total of $325 million to reimburse states like California with high numbers of illegal immigrants for the cost of incarcerating undocumented felons. That's a slight increase over last year, but just a fraction of what California needs, officials estimate. State officials estimate California will spend $7112 million this year keeping undocumented felons behind bars. If the House funding remains steady, however, the state can expect to see only $130 million. Elizabeth Howard, legislative analyst for the California Association of Counties, said the paltry funding adds to the burden on cash-strapped local governments. "The fact that the funding doesn't fully reimburse us for our costs means there's a gap, and a growing gap,' Howard said. Those officials argue that it is the federal government's responsibility to reimburse states for the costs of housing illegal immigrants because securing the nation's borders is the federal government's job. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has made getting more money for the program one of his top campaign pledges, noted Congress did increase its allocation by $28 million over 2003 levels. "We're hopeful that the dollar amount is moving in the right direction,' Terri Carbaugh said. The Department of Justice, which administers the program, estimates that last year 270,000 illegal immigrants served jail time, about 108,000 of them in California. Yet the state received reimbursement for only 44,356 illegal felons. Los Angeles County housed about 27,000 of the illegal immigrants, but was reimbursed $138 million enough to cover costs for only 11,963 undocumented inmates. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, blamed Schwarzenegger for the low funding level, saying the governor's promises to be the "Collectinator' have proven empty. Per inmate, adjusted for inflation, we're getting nothing,' Sherman said. "Pound for pound, Gray Davis was bringing home more money. The Bush administration has sought to eliminate the program since 2001. Administration officials argue there is less need for the program because the federal government is tightening border security. When he was governor of Texas, Bush criticized Congress and the Clinton administration for underfunding SCAAP. "If the federal government cannot do its job of enforcing the borders, then it owes the states monies to pay for its failure,' Bush said in 1995.
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