Illegal crossers cost Pima the most
The price was $7M last year for justice system processing.
SUSAN CARROLL
Citizen Staff Writer
Nov. 20, 2000
Taxpayers in Pima County pay more than those in any other county in Arizona to process illegal immigrants through the justice system.
According to a study to be published this week, the county paid $7 million last fiscal year for law enforcement and court costs for illegal immigrants.
The combined price tag in Arizona's four border counties was more than $18 million.
The border cost study, conducted by the University of Arizona and funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, shows that local taxpayers are paying for illegal immigrants who commit crimes.
"Our county taxpayers are bearing the burden of the cost of illegal immigration," said Sharon Bronson, a Pima County supervisor who serves as co-chairperson of the U.S./Mexico Border Counties Coalition. "This really should be borne by the nation at large.
"It's a federal policy that causes these additional costs," she said.
In 1999, 34.2 million people crossed legally from Mexico into Arizona, the study said. Santa Cruz County experienced the greatest percentage, 43 percent. Pima County, at 5 percent, had the smallest.
Along the entire four-state U.S.-Mexico border, Arizona had 39 percent of all Border Patrol apprehensions.
"Arizona," the study said, "is clearly the state of choice for entering into the United States from Mexico without documentation."
For the smaller border counties, the study shows that the effect of illegal immigrants on the law enforcement and judicial systems can be crippling. In Santa Cruz County, it eats up about 30 percent of the annual budget.
"These are very small, tax-based counties," said Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, who shepherded a $3 million emergency aid package through the U.S. Senate last session to help the counties along the U.S.-Mexico border.
"When you put this kind of expense on them, it's overwhelming," said Kyl.
To date, the government has been paying about 30 cents on the dollar for detention costs. It also provides grants to several Arizona counties.
The state chipped in through the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, reimbursing border counties $1.3 million last fiscal year, the study said.
Kyl supported a bill that would help meet immediate needs for counties, but it may do little for some of the hardest-hit government agencies.
The funds are earmarked for uses, including indigent defense, building new detention facilities, and administrative costs.
As the legislation stands, detention costs and criminal prosecution - two major costs for Santa Cruz County - would be ineligible for reimbursement.
"We're not going to be able to anything with it, not anything significant at least," said Tony Estrada, the Santa Cruz County sheriff.
Illegal immigrants make up approximately 25 percent of the average daily inmate count of 75 prisoners in the Santa Cruz County detention center.
The costs for holding an illegal immigrant typically are higher than a U.S. citizen's because there is no possibility of release on bond, which would result in deportation, he said.
Kyl is trying to allow for the inclusion of detention costs with another piece of legislation that would roll into the federal budget. That decision will come before the Senate next month.
Nearly half the prosecutions by Martha Chase's Santa Cruz County Attorney's Office, with a staff of six, are drug-related. Two prosecutors handle only drug cases and are paid through federal grants.
The aid package would not help Chase, whose office spent about $129,000 last fiscal year on criminal illegal immigrant cases.
"I think few people are going to qualify," she said. "It came with strings on it. I've told them I don't have any cases that qualify."
Tanis J. Salant, principal investigator for UA's portion of the study, said about 60 percent of the Cochise County Sheriff's Office's workload relates to illegal immigration.
The county, the most popular illegal crossing area in the nation, spent more than $4 million on law enforcement and court costs related to illegal immigrants last fiscal year.
"There are so many private ranchers and rural homes along the border that deputies are called in to apprehend and detain people crossing and wait for the Border Patrol to arrive," Salant said.
For some, the federal funding issue has turned into a waiting game.
"Emergency money was supposed to come through a month ago, but we haven't seen it yet," said Vincent Festa, deputy county attorney for Cochise County.
The county's Sheriff's Department bore the heaviest cost of all four border counties, which had a combined cost of $11.9 million, Salant said.
Several court systems come into play with the issue of illegal immigration. The study focused on the cost for criminal illegal immigrants who have committed a state felony or more than one misdemeanor - those who are processed through local courts.
IMMIGRANT COSTS:
Costs per county for providing services to criminal aliens who allegedly committed crimes:
Cochise - $4.5 million
Santa Cruz - $1.95 million
Pima - $7.3 million
Yuma - $4.19 million
Source: UA Institute for Local Government
The price was $7M last year for justice system processing.
SUSAN CARROLL
Citizen Staff Writer
Nov. 20, 2000
Taxpayers in Pima County pay more than those in any other county in Arizona to process illegal immigrants through the justice system.
According to a study to be published this week, the county paid $7 million last fiscal year for law enforcement and court costs for illegal immigrants.
The combined price tag in Arizona's four border counties was more than $18 million.
The border cost study, conducted by the University of Arizona and funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, shows that local taxpayers are paying for illegal immigrants who commit crimes.
"Our county taxpayers are bearing the burden of the cost of illegal immigration," said Sharon Bronson, a Pima County supervisor who serves as co-chairperson of the U.S./Mexico Border Counties Coalition. "This really should be borne by the nation at large.
"It's a federal policy that causes these additional costs," she said.
In 1999, 34.2 million people crossed legally from Mexico into Arizona, the study said. Santa Cruz County experienced the greatest percentage, 43 percent. Pima County, at 5 percent, had the smallest.
Along the entire four-state U.S.-Mexico border, Arizona had 39 percent of all Border Patrol apprehensions.
"Arizona," the study said, "is clearly the state of choice for entering into the United States from Mexico without documentation."
For the smaller border counties, the study shows that the effect of illegal immigrants on the law enforcement and judicial systems can be crippling. In Santa Cruz County, it eats up about 30 percent of the annual budget.
"These are very small, tax-based counties," said Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, who shepherded a $3 million emergency aid package through the U.S. Senate last session to help the counties along the U.S.-Mexico border.
"When you put this kind of expense on them, it's overwhelming," said Kyl.
To date, the government has been paying about 30 cents on the dollar for detention costs. It also provides grants to several Arizona counties.
The state chipped in through the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, reimbursing border counties $1.3 million last fiscal year, the study said.
Kyl supported a bill that would help meet immediate needs for counties, but it may do little for some of the hardest-hit government agencies.
The funds are earmarked for uses, including indigent defense, building new detention facilities, and administrative costs.
As the legislation stands, detention costs and criminal prosecution - two major costs for Santa Cruz County - would be ineligible for reimbursement.
"We're not going to be able to anything with it, not anything significant at least," said Tony Estrada, the Santa Cruz County sheriff.
Illegal immigrants make up approximately 25 percent of the average daily inmate count of 75 prisoners in the Santa Cruz County detention center.
The costs for holding an illegal immigrant typically are higher than a U.S. citizen's because there is no possibility of release on bond, which would result in deportation, he said.
Kyl is trying to allow for the inclusion of detention costs with another piece of legislation that would roll into the federal budget. That decision will come before the Senate next month.
Nearly half the prosecutions by Martha Chase's Santa Cruz County Attorney's Office, with a staff of six, are drug-related. Two prosecutors handle only drug cases and are paid through federal grants.
The aid package would not help Chase, whose office spent about $129,000 last fiscal year on criminal illegal immigrant cases.
"I think few people are going to qualify," she said. "It came with strings on it. I've told them I don't have any cases that qualify."
Tanis J. Salant, principal investigator for UA's portion of the study, said about 60 percent of the Cochise County Sheriff's Office's workload relates to illegal immigration.
The county, the most popular illegal crossing area in the nation, spent more than $4 million on law enforcement and court costs related to illegal immigrants last fiscal year.
"There are so many private ranchers and rural homes along the border that deputies are called in to apprehend and detain people crossing and wait for the Border Patrol to arrive," Salant said.
For some, the federal funding issue has turned into a waiting game.
"Emergency money was supposed to come through a month ago, but we haven't seen it yet," said Vincent Festa, deputy county attorney for Cochise County.
The county's Sheriff's Department bore the heaviest cost of all four border counties, which had a combined cost of $11.9 million, Salant said.
Several court systems come into play with the issue of illegal immigration. The study focused on the cost for criminal illegal immigrants who have committed a state felony or more than one misdemeanor - those who are processed through local courts.
IMMIGRANT COSTS:
Costs per county for providing services to criminal aliens who allegedly committed crimes:
Cochise - $4.5 million
Santa Cruz - $1.95 million
Pima - $7.3 million
Yuma - $4.19 million
Source: UA Institute for Local Government