I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4120

To require the Federal Government to incarcerate, or to reimburse State

and local governments for the cost of incarcerating, criminal aliens,

and to expedite the deportation and exclusion of criminal aliens.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 23, 1994

Mr. POMBO introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the

Committees on the Judiciary and Foreign Affairs

A BILL

To require the Federal Government to incarcerate, or to

reimburse State and local governments for the cost of

incarcerating, criminal aliens, and to expedite the deportation and exclusion of criminal aliens.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Criminal Alien Depor5 tation and Native Country Confinement Act of 1994’’.
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1 SEC. 2. INCARCERATION OF OR PAYMENT FOR CRIMINAL

2 ALIENS BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

3 (a) DEFINITION.—In this section, ‘‘criminal alien

4 who has been convicted of a felony and is incarcerated in

5 a State or local correctional facility’’ means an alien

6 who—

7 (1)(A) is in the United States in violation of the

8 immigration laws; or

9 (B) is deportable or excludable under the Immi10 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.);

11 and

12 (2) has been convicted of a felony under State

13 or local law and incarcerated in a correctional facil14 ity of the State or a subdivision of the State.

15 (b) FEDERAL CUSTODY.—At the request of a State

16 or political subdivision of a State, the Attorney General

17 shall—

18 (1)(A) take custody of a criminal alien who has

19 been convicted of a felony and is incarcerated in a

20 State or local correctional facility; and

21 (B) provide for the imprisonment of the crimi22 nal alien in a Federal prison in accordance with the

23 sentence of the State court; or

24 (2) enter into a contractual arrangement with

25 the State or local government to compensate the
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1 State or local government for incarcerating alien

2 criminals for the duration of their sentences.

3 SEC. 3. EXPEDITING CRIMINAL ALIEN DEPORTATION AND

4 EXCLUSION.

5 (a) CONVICTED DEFINED.—Section 241(a)(2) of the

6 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1251(a)(2))

7 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub8 paragraph:

9 ‘‘(E) CONVICTED DEFINED.—In this para10 graph, the term ‘convicted’ means a judge or

11 jury has found the alien guilty or the alien has

12 entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere,

13 whether or not the alien appeals therefrom.’’.

14 (b) DEPORTATION OF CONVICTED ALIENS.—

15 (1) IMMEDIATE DEPORTATION.—Section 242(h)

16 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1252(h)) is amended—

17 (A) by striking ‘‘(h) An alien’’ and insert18 ing ‘‘(h)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), an alien’’;

19 and

20 (B) by adding at the end the following new

21 paragraph:

22 ‘‘(2) An alien sentenced to imprisonment may be de23 ported prior to the termination of such imprisonment by

24 the release of the alien from confinement, if the Service

25 petitions the appropriate court or other entity with author-
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1 ity concerning the alien to release the alien into the

2 custody of the Service for execution of an order of

3 deportation.’’.

4 (2) PROHIBITION OF REENTRY INTO THE

5 UNITED STATES.—Section 212(a)(2) of such Act (8

6 U.S.C. 1182(a)(2)) is amended—

7 (A) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as

8 subparagraph (G); and

9 (B) by inserting after subparagraph (E)

10 the following new subparagraph:

11 ‘‘(F) ALIENS DEPORTED BEFORE SERVING

12 MINIMUM PERIOD OF CONFINEMENT.—An alien

13 deported pursuant to section 242(h)(2) is ex14 cludable during the minimum period of confine15 ment to which the alien was sentenced.’’.

16 (c) EXECUTION OF DEPORTATION ORDERS.—Section

17 242(i) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1252(i)) is amended by add18 ing at the end the following: ‘‘An order of deportation may

19 not be executed until all direct appeals relating to the con20 viction which is the basis of the deportation order have

21 been exhausted.’’.

22 (d) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.—The Attorney

23 General shall notify each alien incarcerated in a State or

24 Federal prison of any available option for voluntary depor25 tation and prisoner transfer where the alien would be in-
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1 carcerated for the remainder of the sentence of confine2 ment in the country to which deported.

3 SEC. 4. CONGRESSIONAL STATEMENT CONCERNING INCAR4 CERATION IN COUNTRY TO WHICH CRIMINAL

5 ALIENS ARE DEPORTED.

6 (a) CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.—The Congress

7 makes the following findings:

8 (1) Aliens entering the United States without

9 the knowledge or permission of the Federal Govern10 ment have become a major economic and social

11 problem in many States.

12 (2) The number of undocumented aliens com13 mitting felony crimes has reached staggering propor14 tions in California and in other States.

15 (3) In 1988, 5,500 undocumented aliens were

16 incarcerated in California prisons; in 1994 there are

17 16,000.

18 (4) In 1993 incarcerated undocumented aliens

19 represented approximately 15 percent of the total

20 California State prison population.

21 (5) The cost of incarcerating each State pris22 oner in California ranges between $15,000 to

23 $30,000 and the cost to the taxpayers of California

24 for the incarceration of undocumented criminal

25 aliens in the State is approximately $402,000,000.
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1 (6) The State of California has spent over a bil2 lion dollars in the past 5 years to incarcerate un3 documented criminal aliens.

4 (7) The Immigration and Naturalization Serv5 ice (INS) estimates that the average cost to deport

6 an undocumented criminal alien is $600.

7 (8) The United States has bilateral treaties

8 concerning prisoner transfers with several countries.

9 The treaties have strict criteria requiring that all

10 parties, the United States Department of Justice,

11 the United States Department of State, the foreign

12 government, and the prisoner, consent to the trans13 fer. The prisoner must voluntarily request such a

14 transfer.

15 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the

16 Congress that—

17 (1) the President should direct the Secretary of

18 State to enter into negotiations with other countries

19 in order to conclude bilateral or multilateral agree20 ments to provide for incarceration in the country to

21 which an alien is deported when an alien is deported

22 while subject to a term of imprisonment in the

23 United States;

24 (2) all existing agreements regarding prisoner

25 transfer should be renegotiated to remove the re-
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1 quirement of prisoner approval and all other barriers

2 to prisoner transfer; and

3 (3) any prisoner transfer agreement should in4 clude the assurance that prisoners will complete the

5 full term of any sentence upon transfer to another

6 country.

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