* At the federal level, the number of criminal aliens incarcerated
increased from about 42,000 at the end of calendar year 2001 to about
49,000 at the end of calendar year 2004--a 15 percent increase. The
percentage of all federal prisoners who are criminal aliens has
remained the same over the last 3 years--about 27 percent. The majority
of criminal aliens incarcerated at the end of calendar year 2004 were
identified as citizens of Mexico. We estimate the federal cost of
incarcerating criminal aliens--BOP's cost to incarcerate criminals and
reimbursements to state and local governments under SCAAP--totaled
approximately $5.8 billion for calendar years 2001 through 2004. BOP's
cost to incarcerate criminal aliens rose from about $950 million in
2001 to about $1.2 billion in 2004--a 14 percent increase. Federal
reimbursements for incarcerating criminal aliens in state prisons and
local jails declined from $550 million in 2001 to $280 million in 2004,
in a large part due to a reduction in congressional appropriations.
* At the state level, the 50 states received reimbursement for
incarcerating about 77,000 criminal aliens in fiscal year 2002 and 47
states received reimbursement for incarcerating about 74,000 in fiscal
year 2003.[Footnote 1] For the 5 states incarcerating about 80 percent
of these criminal aliens in fiscal year 2003, [Footnote 2] about 68
percent incarcerated in midyear 2004 reported that the country of
citizenship or country of birth as Mexico, the Dominican Republic, or
Cuba. We estimate that 4 of these 5 states spent about $1.6 billion to
incarcerate criminal aliens reimbursed through SCAAP during fiscal
years 2002 and 2003.[Footnote 3] We estimate that the federal
government reimbursed these four states about 25 percent or less of the
estimated cost to incarcerate these criminal aliens in fiscal years
2002 and 2003.
* At the local level, in fiscal year 2002, SCAAP reimbursed about 750
local governments for incarcerating about 138,000 criminal aliens. In
fiscal year 2003, SCAAP reimbursed about 700 local governments for
about 147,000 criminal aliens, with 5 local jail systems[Footnote 4]
accounting for about 30 percent of these criminal aliens. The 147,000
criminal aliens incarcerated during fiscal year 2003 spent a total of
about 8.5 million days in jail. Mexico leads as the country of birth
for foreign-born arrestees at these 5 local jails in fiscal year 2003.
We estimate that 4 of these 5 local jails spent an estimated $390
million in fiscal years 2002 and 2003 to incarcerate criminal aliens
and were reimbursed about $73 million through SCAAP. We estimate that
the federal government reimbursed these localities about 25 percent or
less of the estimated criminal alien incarceration cost in fiscal years
2002 and 2003.