Legislators: Deport Illegal Immigrants in Florida’s Prisons to Save Money
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A Legislature reluctant to tackle immigration policy in an election year made its first foray into the issue Tuesday with a proposal to kick out of the country illegal immigrants in Florida’s prisons who volunteer to be deported.
Even that measure, approved on a bipartisan vote in its first Senate committee stop, is billed by supporters more as a cost-saving measure than a bid to crackdown on illegal immigrants.
With the Legislature’s annual lawmaking session half over, the hot-button issue of illegal immigration has largely been absent from the agenda. Bills to deny illegal immigrants state benefits such as food stamps and require companies to verify the legal status of employees have been idled as state legislators have dealt with a $3 billion budget shortfall.
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The Senate bill (SB1086), which cleared the Criminal Justice Committee by unanimous vote Tuesday, would allow for deportation of the estimated 5,000 illegal immigrants in Florida prisons, as long as they’ve served 50 percent of their sentences and agree to be deported. Similar laws in New York and Arizona saved the states $141 million and $13 million in inmate costs from 2005 to 2007, respectively.
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Some maintain Florida should do nothing. Courtney Strickland, a lobbyist with the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, said, “It’s not a great idea to have a patchwork of laws and policies across the states.”
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But lawmakers also face pressure from opposing groups that advocate a much harder line against immigrants—groups that are stepping up their activity in a campaign season, said Ann Morse, an immigration expert at the National Conference of State Legislatures.
One such effort comes from a group called Border Control Now, which is airing an Internet ad accusing Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, R- West Miami, of blocking bills targeting illegal immigrants. Rubio spokeswoman Jill Chamberlin said she hadn’t seen the ad.
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(Posted on April 3, 2008)
Comments
I’ve written the sponsor of this bill urging him to drop the consent requirement. Expulsion should be mandatory. I also suggested he add provisions to sentence any returning illegals to triple the normal time for any subsequent crimes, and for the state to confiscate all the property of expelled illegals. The idea is to keep them out once they’re deported by giving them nothing to return to.
You can e-mail the sponsor at this address.
Posted by Strider at 8:58 AM on April 4
How odd the aclu = [all criminals love us],is against this. Furthermore, why would you ask, murders, theives, rapists, child molesters, and illegal felons, if they are “willing to leave”? Once again it seems the animals are running the zoo.
Posted by at 10:00 AM on April 4
Why not? I still am constantly amazed that there is any question of “what to do with illegal aliens?” Do some people still not understand that “illegal” means “unlawful?” When they’re caught, ship them home. Load trains, planes and automobiles and transport them across the border. If the home country doesn’t want them, put them in the town square and let their country’s social services pay for them instead of us. This isn’t being cruel - it’s just a wake up call for corrupt countries who must take care of their own citizens - we cannot feed and house the entire world. When we go down, so does everyone else!
Posted by June at 10:03 AM on April 4
We have a similar problem in UK. However, notwithstanding civil rights issues, is it really an advantage to any country to eventually release a bunch of alien criminals back into society when they have already demonstrated their total disregard to that same society who let them in in the first place, possibly on humanitarian grounds. What a load of tosh!!
Posted by Yorkshireman at 1:04 PM on April 4
“It is not a good idea to have a patchwork of laws and policies across the states.”
—Courtney Strickland
I was under the impression that this was one of the reasons we *have* states.
Posted by Michael C Scott at 1:19 AM on April 6
They are too busy working on the budget shortfall to take up measures that would save taxpayer money! Only a politician could come up with that “logic.”
Posted by Frank at 5:19 PM on April 7