Assemblyman Urges End to Funds for Imprisoning Illegals

SACRAMENTO —  A ranking Democratic member of the Assembly’s budget committee, insisting that the state cannot pay for imprisoning undocumented immigrants, on Tuesday proposed cutting $250 million in the state budget for their incarceration.

Assemblyman Richard Polanco of Los Angeles, a member of the Ways and Means Committee, said the state Department of Corrections must persuade the federal government to pay the $250 million it costs to house 13,000 illegal immigrants in California prisons, or deport them.

“If the state Department of Corrections will not deport the undocumented felons,” Polanco said, “then they should look for the funding from the federal government.”

Polanco’s proposal one-ups Gov. Pete Wilson, who earlier this year called on the Clinton Administration to pay $250 million for housing the prisoners. Not wanting to be responsible for early release of criminals from California prisons, however, Wilson stopped short of advocating that they be deported if the federal government fails to pick up the tab.

Polanco, who chairs the subcommittee that oversees prison spending, said he expects the Department of Corrections to come up with a plan to deal with alien criminals and implement it by July 1. Polanco also is proposing $190 million to $550 million in other cuts from the department’s $2.5-billion budget.

Polanco, head of the 10-member Latino Caucus, called himself a “staunch advocate of immigrant rights.” But he said “this population, however small it may be, has harmed the social fabric.”

In Los Angeles, some immigration law specialists were critical of Polanco’s proposal. Calling Polanco’s idea “grandstanding,” Peter Schey of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles said many illegal immigrants who have committed crimes are longtime residents, and have strong defenses to summary expulsion.

“You cannot propose some sweeping deportation orders,” Schey said. “It would run afoul of the laws of Congress and the U.S. Constitution.”

Still, Polanco’s idea helped bring into focus an issue that troubles both liberals and conservatives. Assemblyman Mickey Conroy (R-Orange) is pushing a bill to study opening a prison in Baja California for Mexican nationals who commit crimes in California.

In the Senate, Sen. Robert Presley (D-Riverside) issued a lengthy report last week saying that 12% to 15% of the state’s 109,000 prisoners are alien felons, roughly enough to fill four prisons. Several thousand more are lodged in county jails, with 22,000 jailed annually in Los Angeles County alone.

Presley concluded that deportation is tempting, but “no panacea.” Other nations are unlikely accept nationals who have committed crimes in California. Few felons want to serve their time in their homelands because prison conditions generally are better in California, the report noted.