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Feds owe state millions for housing illegal immigrants in prisons, Suthers says

Rocky Mountain News

Published August 21, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Colorado Attorney General John Suthers figures the federal government owes the state $39.8 million for housing illegal immigrants in state prisons during the past fiscal year.

But Suthers is not expecting to see much of that money anytime soon. Last year, the federal government reimbursed the Colorado Department of Corrections $3.3 million.

The attorney general included the latest cost estimate in an Aug. 18 letter to the state's congressional delegation, asking their help in offsetting "the immense financial burdens caused by inadequate enforcement of federal immigration laws."

The letter is a means of alerting both the delegation and the public to the costs that the state prison system is bearing, Suthers said.

Suthers noted that, at the direction of the state legislature, he sued the federal government in an effort to recover the costs. But the case was quickly dismissed after the court concluded that the matter was a political and not a judicial matter.

Comments

  • August 21, 2008

    1:03 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    happymike44 writes:

    Still think illegal immigrants still benefit the state,
    Think of the billions of dollars we are spending on the scum of the earth.
    These people are like cockroaches turn on the lights and they hide in the bushes.
    How do people who murder and molest and harm our society benefit us.
    Other then those who hire them for the cheap slave labor.
    They are the ones destroying our country by lessening the value of a persons work and pay.
    Not to mention the wholesale destruction of a community by the drug lords and sexual predators.
    We need to send these people back where they belong.
    Why because people need to understand you can not save the whole world.
    Think of all the diseases they bring into the country.
    Ask yourself how much food stamps and other services being denied to true american citizens.
    Because these people come and apply for these thing illegally
    and yet somehow get them.
    Preserve our country and it's tradition by sealing our borders and start defending us from the scum of the earth.

  • August 21, 2008

    5:50 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    ineelb4no1 writes:

    Illegal immigrants don't benefit anyone other than other illegals, greedy business owners and politicians.

    Stop Illegal Immigration-Make your voice heard! Fax Congress for Free from your desktop.
    www.NumbersUsa.com -fax congress free!
    www.alipac.us
    www.fairus.org
    www.capwiz.com/caps/home/ -fax congress free!

  • August 21, 2008

    7:32 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Estoban writes:

    The basic problem of illegal immigrants and the cost of their crimes won't be changed until voters elect people who will follow the will of constituents and not the will of business lobbyists, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Once the border is fenced with real fence and the use of E-Verify is universally mandated by business, then the costs associated with illegal immigration will slowly decrease. Vote for Senators and Representatives that strongly believe in rule of law.

  • August 21, 2008

    10:01 a.m.

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    Mtn__Gator writes:

    Hey wait...these are "un-documented workers" accourding to the media. But this story is "un-documented prisoners"

  • August 21, 2008

    8:15 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    mygirlboo writes:

    Perhaps the state can sue the Chamber of Commerce, the growers' associations, the Catholic Church and the government of Mexico to recoup these expenses. They are all so eager to inflict these people on the rest of us.