Gingrich Backs Wilson on Illegal Immigrant Costs

Endorsing California Gov. Pete Wilson’s position, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) declared Wednesday that the cost of imprisoning illegal immigrants is a “federal obligation” and he called on Congress to approve $630 million in reimbursement to states.

The proposal, to be taken up by the House as early as today, would more than double the $300 million for reimbursement in President Clinton’s 1996 budget.

Gingrich’s position is a boost for Wilson, who has appealed repeatedly for full federal funding of state expenditures associated with illegal immigrants.

Wilson aides said after the governor met here with Gingrich that about 60% of any federal assistance would go to California, which means that the Gingrich proposal could increase the state’s share to nearly $400 million. Wilson applauded Gingrich for bringing “new hope to American governors.”

“What we’ve been used to is federal default, both in terms of securing the border and then compounding that error by imposing on the states unfunded mandates that have literally taken services away from our legal residents,” Wilson said.

Although Gingrich is advocating steep reductions in federal spending in other areas, he dismissed suggestions that reimbursement for prison costs could create budgetary problems.

“The flood of illegal immigrants is such a budget-buster that they can destroy California’s economy, Arizona’s economy, New Mexico’s economy and Texas’ economy,” Gingrich said. “We have a federal obligation to solve it.”

But by supporting the initiative, introduced by Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), Gingrich is clashing with members of his own party who oppose the measure as too expensive. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), who met Wednesday with Wilson, called the proposal “Berman’s budget-busting amendment.”

In an attempt to alleviate the fiscal dilemma that the proposal poses for his fellow Republicans, Wilson offered to save the federal government “a large amount of money” if he is given the kind of flexibility that Republicans have promised to give states in administering programs like welfare, according to Wilson’s aide Robert Hoffman.

“The governor understands the concerns of appropriators. We don’t want to cut from law enforcement or cut from border patrol. . . . That’s the reason why he offered to the group the option of bringing the affected states at the very least to the table to see what kind of savings they can achieve through greater flexibility in social program planning and implementation,” Hoffman said.

“We’re fairly confident that the reforms the states can put in place will generate enough savings to pay for the incarceration amount.”

On a separate issue, a new federal report shows that California would lose far more in federal funds than it would reap from incarceration reimbursement if Congress passes a provision on welfare reform, included in the House Republican “contract with America,” that would make most legal immigrants ineligible for dozens of federal programs, including cash assistance.

According to a new report by the General Accounting Office, if the provision is approved, more than 1 million immigrants would lose eligibility for Aid to Families With Dependent Children, the main cash welfare program for families, and for Supplemental Security Income.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the measure would save $9.2 billion nationwide. More than half the immigrants who receive these benefits live in California.

The GAO report also provided more evidence for those who favor cutting off immigrants, showing that they are almost twice as likely to receive cash assistance as U.S. citizens.

“We don’t want to be a welfare magnet for the world,” said Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), a leading force on welfare reform. He added that the GAO report shows “we’ve started becoming that.”

Berman said, however, that by cutting immigrants off welfare, the federal government would be shirking its duties the same way it does when it fails to reimburse costs of incarcerating illegal immigrants.

“It’s a terrible idea,” Berman said. “It puts the lie to the notion that we are all joined together to fight illegal immigration but we welcome legal immigration. It’s a fundamental assault on the American tradition of helping refugees and also on our legal immigration program that has done so much to help this country.”

Before his meeting with Wilson on incarceration reimbursement, Gingrich praised legal immigration, saying that Americans revel in it.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the cost of reimbursing states for money spent to imprison illegal immigrants would be $630 million the first year and about $10 million more each following year. Of the first-year total, California would receive $370 million and Los Angeles County would receive $34 million, according to Wilson’s aides.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who has fought for reimbursements of state costs connected with illegal immigrants, suggested that both Wilson and Gingrich were “mostly posturing.”

“I welcome Newt Gingrich aboard the reimbursement train,” she said sarcastically. But she added that Gingrich and Wilson could have saved themselves a lot of trouble if they had gotten on the phone and twisted Republican senators’ arms to vote for her amendment to the unfunded mandate bill that would have accomplished the same thing.