Criminal Al iens Pose Serious Problem

Criminal aliens set free on the streets of America — instead of being deported after serving their time — are being rearrested as many as six more times by U.S. authorities, according to a government audit just released.

But the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General said it did not know how many of 262,105 illegals in the audit, who had been charged with a crime and then released, had been rearrested.

Inspector General Glenn A. Fine said that the volume of available files “was too great to search manually and quantify the results” and that investigators instead selected a sample of 100 illegal aliens arrested in 2004 and reviewed their criminal histories for evidence of rearrests.

Mr. Fine noted that although the limited audit did not find any instances of “outright failure” to cooperate with Homeland Security in the removal of criminal aliens from the United States, a review of the 100 criminal histories “produced results that, if indicative of the full population of criminal aliens identified, suggest that the rate at which released criminal aliens are re-arrested is extremely high.”

The 91-page audit, which was requested by Congress, said the limited sampling found that of the 100 selected aliens, 73 had an average of six arrests each after being released from custody. They were arrested, collectively, 429 times on 878 charges, ranging from traffic violations and trespassing to drug crimes, burglary, robbery, assault, and weapons violations.

The audit found that local jurisdictions “prioritize enforcement of state and local laws, while sometimes permitting or encouraging law-enforcement officers” to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Last year, Congress required an annual audit as part of the Justice Department’s State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), which provides federal funding to states and localities for the costs of incarcerating criminal aliens on state or local charges. The program is administered by the Justice Department in conjunction with ICE, which is part of Homeland Security. During fiscal 2005, Justice distributed $287.1 million in SCAAP payments to 752 state, county and local jurisdictions—nearly 70 percent of which went to 10 jurisdictions: the states of California, New York, Texas, Florida, Arizona, Illinois and Massachusetts; New York City; and two California counties, Los Angeles and Orange.

When President Obama unveiled his detailed budget plan earlier this year, he proposed eliminating or trimming 121 programs in an effort to save $17 billion in the next fiscal year. He said some of the cuts were “more painful than others.” Included in his program cuts was SCAAP, which partially offsets costs states incur to prosecute and imprison illegal entrants. New York State received over 25 million dollars from this program in 2007.

This cut is unconscionable because it makes the states pay all the law-enforcement costs associated with illegal immigration, which is a federal responsibility.

Many members of Congress justifiably were quick to criticize the elimination of SCAAP funding, including Congressman John Hall. I call on him to continue fighting to save the program.

Forcing state governments to pick up the tab for the federal government’s immigration enforcement failures doesn’t save US taxpayers one dime. Further, President Obama has not offered any alternative to reimbursing the states for the high costs associated with prosecuting and incarcerating criminal aliens. Across the country, communities are wrestling with the consequences of our nation’s illegal and border security crises. This action, taken by this president further demonstrates his administration’s continuing commitment to dismantle programs that states have relied upon to do the job that the federal government has failed to do.

Ed Kowalski, of Pawling, is a Director of 9/11 Families for a Secure America. His niece, Elizabeth Butler, was murdered in June 2005 by illegal alien Ariel Menendez. Menendez was felony and misdemeanor-convicted prior to his murdering of Elizabeth.