11:58 PM
It has become an annual exhibition in the government's eternal struggle to balance budgets and fight illegal immigration.
Politicians propose removing the federal funds that flow to local law-enforcement agencies as reimbursement for the costs of housing undocumented immigrants, and every year those funds are reinstated.
This year's restoration of funding came just before Thanksgiving in a quietly passed appropriations bill that included funding for farms, research and transportation. The bill also included $240 million to reimburse jailers for the costs of housing undocumented inmates.
On Wednesday, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors passed a portion of those funds through to the Sheriff's Office, giving the agency $2.2 million to offset some of the costs associated with undocumented inmates.
The federal funds also included more than $9 million for the Department of Corrections.
The money is allocated annually based on the number of days each undocumented immigrant is housed in a jail or prison. The reimbursement rate is about $30 per inmate per day.
Daily incarceration costs can vary based on factors such as where the inmates are housed. It costs about $56 each day to keep a convict in an Arizona state prison.
County jails and the state have received nearly $100 million through the program since 2006, but federal lawmakers eye the money each year when it comes time to balance the budget.
This year's allotment was in jeopardy after President Barack Obama introduced a budget in the spring that eliminated the money, but the funding found its way into a multifaceted appropriations bill that Obama signed Nov. 18.
Officials in Arizona were thankful for the $12 million that came the state's way this year but said it does not come close to covering taxpayers' costs.
"Some money's better than nothing," Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said. "It's still not as much as we should be receiving."
It is a familiar refrain that crosses party lines.
Former Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano regularly billed the federal government in an attempt to recapture some of the expenses the state incurred to house undocumented inmates. And former Republican state Treasurer Dean Martin followed suit and sent federal officials a $1 billion bill in early 2010 in an ill-fated attempt to recoup some of the same expenses.
But in a climate where every federal dollar spent is being scrutinized, it can be hard for politicians to balance their desire for the federal government to meet its obligations and for fiscal conservatism.
Gov. Jan Brewer is among them.
Brewer is sensitive to the federal government's budget crunch, said spokesman Matt Benson, but Brewer wants cuts to come from areas other than the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program.
"The governor doesn't believe that SCAAP funding for states is the best approach to reducing federal spending because ultimately those costs are being born by the states," Benson said. "It's not like they disappear."
Rep. Jeff Flake, a fiscal conservative, was among the six Arizona delegates who voted against the appropriations bill that included SCAAP funds. Sen. John Kyl and Reps. Ed Pastor and Paul Gosar voted for the measure, and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords did not vote.
Flake said Arizonans who are not accustomed to the money serving as a political football should get used to it.
"Unfortunately, I think that what's past is prologue here. We're going to see more of this battle every year," Flake said. "There will be increased pressures, I think, on all funding. It's not like you have to rob something in another area of government (to continue funding the program)."
Keeping the reimbursement program alive, Flake said, will require reducing some of the money that flows from the Department of Homeland Security to state and local law-enforcement agencies if there is not an obvious connection to federal mandates.
"Whether we like it or not, providing funding for local fire departments and (Community Oriented Policing grant) funding, that certainly is appreciated by folks at the local level, but there's not really a federal nexus there," Flake said. "Here, there is
Posted in: Alabama, Alabama HB56, Alabama Law, ALP, Immigration Bills, immigration reform 2011, U.S. Citizenship, Valley
