L.A. Times Article on Prisons Once Again Fails to Mention Cost of Housing Illegal Alien Criminals
The L.A. Times has a front-page, above-the-fold article that reports:
In a proposal that would nearly double the state’s prison construction program, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration asked lawmakers Friday to approve $7 billion in new spending to bring medical and mental healthcare in California prisons up to constitutional standards.
Naturally, the article does not say one word about illegal aliens in our prisons — even though, as I have told you before, the Washington Post says that “[m]ore than 10 percent of California’s prison population is in the United States illegally.
If we’re spending $7 billion on new health care, that means more than $700 million could be saved if we didn’t have illegal aliens to house.
A savings of $700 million. Is that worth one sentence in this front-page article?
$700 million in annual savings represents a best-case-scenario.
Only secondary illegal alien offenders could’ve been deported upon release from their prior offence according to existing statues. Therefore total savings would be smaller, however Patterico’s point stands, LA Times’ lack
Alex Kravets (d1a93b) — 4/12/2008 @ 11:16 pmof coverage of the issue, if not proving LA Times’ political bias on the issue of illegal immigration, at least creates the appearance of such.
If Huckabee were still Governor you could have sent them all to Arkansas, he would have pardoned them all and the problem would have been solved. Two governors missed the opportunity to work that one out.
daleyrocks (906622) — 4/12/2008 @ 11:23 pmHuh?
Which illegal aliens are we not allowed to deport again?
Patterico (4bda0b) — 4/12/2008 @ 11:26 pmDon’t they have to do the time upon doing the crime ? Doesn’t that imply they can’t be deported prior to serving time after first offense
Alex Kravets (d1a93b) — 4/12/2008 @ 11:32 pmThey should always do the time if they do the crime, and then (and only then) be deported.
My point is that if they had not been in the country to do the crime in the first place, we wouldn’t be forced to shoulder the cost of making them do the time.
Patterico (4bda0b) — 4/12/2008 @ 11:56 pmMake the mexican goverment plus the illegal alein supporters pay for it all
krazy kagu (d982eb) — 4/13/2008 @ 8:48 amIts interesting that on today’s LAT there is also a report on liver transplants being provided to illegal immigrants with the state (taxpayers) footing the bill. While not at all minimizing the seriousness of needed organ transplant, it was shocking to hear this attitude from a patient who aged out of the state provision for continuing medical help, say,
“It doesn’t matter if I’m undocumented,” she said. “They should take care of me at UCLA for the rest of my life because I’ve been there since I was a baby.”
This is yet another illustration along with this post re incarcerated illegals of how taxpayers of California are being burdened with the costs of illegal immigrants.
Commonsense, which is obviously in short supply, dictates that if the borders were secured in the first place, most of these financial burdens would not be ours (taxpayers in Cali) to shoulder.
Dana (59f0fc) — 4/13/2008 @ 2:44 pmI’m an immigrant myself (legal). That said, while incarcerated why not make committing a serious felony as an illegal an aggravating condition that merits no parole or early release and adds an extra 5 years to the sentence (mandatory) and if constitutional a condition that would preclude bail.
cubanbob (409ac2) — 4/13/2008 @ 9:57 pmIndeed every state should do the same.
“That said, while incarcerated why not make committing a serious felony as an illegal an aggravating condition that merits no parole or early release and adds an extra 5 years to the sentence (mandatory) and if constitutional a condition that would preclude bail.”
So the solution to the fact that illegals are a burden to prisons is to… increase the time they spend there.
stef (2b5cca) — 4/14/2008 @ 5:42 pmI believe the thrust of the idea is to make incarceration so onerous (penal, penalty, etc) that people will make a better attempt to be law-abiding so as to not be sent there. If the crime rate goes down and fewer people are being convicted and sentenced, the cost of incarceration will go down.
Another Drew (8018ee) — 4/14/2008 @ 6:43 pm