Washington, DC -- Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-17) announced that New York City, Rockland and Westchester Counties have qualified for a combined total of over $13.6 million to help local police forces and municipalities deal with incarcerating illegal criminal aliens.  The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), run by the U.S. Department of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance, reimburses states and localities for the costs of incarcerating criminal illegal aliens. 

The funds are determined by a set formula which factors in the number of eligible criminal aliens, and the amount of time they are held, as determined by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  Based on the formula, New York City will receive $12,366,801, Westchester County for $958,297 and Rockland County for $497,329.

“It is vital that New York taxpayers don’t bear the entire burden of housing criminal aliens, when it should be the responsibility of the federal government.  Immigration is not a local issue, but very often cities, counties, towns and villages must bear the burden for housing criminal aliens in their jails.  New York municipalities rely on these funds to make our communities safer.  The federal government needs to address our immigration problem, but our local law enforcement should not have to pay the price for our delay in solving it,” said Rep. Engel.

SCAAP provides federal payments to states and localities to reimburse them for incarcerating illegal criminal aliens with at least one felony or two misdemeanor convictions for violations of state or local law, and incarcerated for at least four consecutive days during the reporting period.

“Immigration reform is long overdue.  I was supportive of the McCain/Kennedy reform bill which passed the Senate during the Bush Administration, but was effectively killed by the Republican-controlled House.  I supported the DREAM Act which passed the House last year, received a majority vote in the Senate, but was blocked by a Republican filibuster.  If we finally address this system – fixing the legal immigration process and addressing the growing illegal immigration problem – we not only will strengthen our national security, but will aid our economy by eliminating the exploitation of millions of people,” said Rep. Engel.

FY 2007-2011 SCAAP Use of Funds List

• Salaries for corrections officers
• Overtime costs
• Corrections work force recruitment and retention
• Construction of corrections facilities
• Training/education for offenders
• Training for corrections officers related to offender population management
• Consultants involved with offender population
• Medical and mental health services
• Vehicle rental/purchase for transport of offenders
• Prison industries
• Pre-release/reentry programs
• Technology involving offender management/inter-agency information sharing
• Disaster preparedness continuity of operations for corrections facility

The 12-term Congressman added, “We are a stronger nation when we have a strong and vibrant influx of immigrants.  E pluribus, unum.  Out of many, one.  The 11 million undocumented workers are not going anywhere, and we must figure out a path to citizenship for them, secure our borders, and fix our immigration system.  However, we must help our police keep criminals off of our streets and away from our law-abiding citizens.  If these funds can help them, then I am very pleased they will receive them.”

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