ARIZONA DAILY STAR Published: 05.22.2009
Editorial

When President Obama unveiled his detailed budget plan earlier this month, 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.”

One cut, we believe, was also more irresponsible than others.

The Obama plan would eliminate the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, or SCAAP, which helps states partially offset costs they incur to prosecute and imprison illegal entrants. The program received $400 million last year.

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

Many members of Congress justifiably were quick to criticize the elimination of SCAAP funding. We call on them to continue fighting to save the program.

Former President Bush also eliminated funding for SCAAP in his 2009 budget, but lawmakers were able to restore the money.

We would like to see a repeat of that effort this year.

Soon after Obama unveiled his budget, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., signed a bipartisan letter asking the Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., to reject the Obama proposal and fund SCAAP.
The letter, dated May 8, says: “Border protection and enforcement of immigration laws remains a federal responsibility. We will continue to make our case to the new administration that SCAAP is an important component of the Department of Justice’s support of state and local law enforcement.”

That same day, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., joined fellow Arizona Democratic Reps. Harry Mitchell and Ann Kirkpatrick in writing a letter to House appropriations leaders urging renewal of SCAAP funding. Since then, 20 other lawmakers – 15 Democrats and five Republicans – have co-signed the letter.

“I’m working very hard, along with other members of Congress, to make sure the federal government stands up to its responsibilities,” Giffords told us Thursday. “State and local governments are spending a lot of tax money to make up for the federal government’s failure to protect the border. They need to be compensated for it.”

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department and other state law-enforcement agencies received $17.4 million in SCAAP funding in 2008 and $18.4 million in 2007.

That may sound like a decent sum, but for years border-area law-enforcement agencies have been receiving about 10 cents for every dollar they spend to prosecute and incarcerate illegal entrants.
With local governments straining to pay for essential services, cutting payments for doing the federal government’s job is wrong.

Gov. Jan Brewer made an issue of the SCAAP cut in a speech Wednesday to the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, calling it another example of the federal government’s unpaid bills.
“I have personally spoken to President Obama about this and asked that he re-review his plans to eliminate the so-called SCAAP funds,” Brewer said.

Giffords said her office has been in touch with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, the former governor of Arizona, in an attempt to persuade the administration to renew SCAAP funding.

“She gets this,” Giffords said of Napolitano. “She herself has billed the federal government for border costs. We think she can be a conduit to the president.”

Giffords expressed cautious optimism that SCAAP funding can be restored. She also added this it is an issue with support on both sides of the aisle and from lawmakers who don’t live in border states. Lawmakers from Massachusetts, New York and Ohio have signed her letter.

Border communities are unfairly burdened by the government’s failure to solve the illegal-immigration problem.

Until that issue is solved, border states should be reimbursed for trying to clean up the federal government’s mess.