[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4120 Introduced in House (IH)]

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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Criminal Alien Deportation and 
Native Country Confinement Act of 1994''.

SEC. 2. INCARCERATION OF OR PAYMENT FOR CRIMINAL ALIENS BY THE FEDERAL 
              GOVERNMENT.

    (a) Definition.--In this section, ``criminal alien who has been 
convicted of a felony and is incarcerated in a State or local 
correctional facility'' means an alien who--
            (1)(A) is in the United States in violation of the 
        immigration laws; or
            (B) is deportable or excludable under the Immigration and 
        Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.); and
            (2) has been convicted of a felony under State or local law 
        and incarcerated in a correctional facility of the State or a 
        subdivision of the State.
    (b) Federal Custody.--At the request of a State or political 
subdivision of a State, the Attorney General shall--
            (1)(A) take custody of a criminal alien who has been 
        convicted of a felony and is incarcerated in a State or local 
        correctional facility; and
            (B) provide for the imprisonment of the criminal alien in a 
        Federal prison in accordance with the sentence of the State 
        court; or
            (2) enter into a contractual arrangement with the State or 
        local government to compensate the State or local government 
        for incarcerating alien criminals for the duration of their 
        sentences.

SEC. 3. EXPEDITING CRIMINAL ALIEN DEPORTATION AND EXCLUSION.

    (a) Convicted Defined.--Section 241(a)(2) of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1251(a)(2)) is amended by adding at the end 
the following new subparagraph:
                    ``(E) Convicted defined.--In this paragraph, the 
                term `convicted' means a judge or jury has found the 
                alien guilty or the alien has entered a plea of guilty 
                or nolo contendere, whether or not the alien appeals 
                therefrom.''.
    (b) Deportation of Convicted Aliens.--
            (1) Immediate deportation.--Section 242(h) of such Act (8 
        U.S.C. 1252(h)) is amended--
                    (A) by striking ``(h) An alien'' and inserting 
                ``(h)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), an alien''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following new 
                paragraph:
    ``(2) An alien sentenced to imprisonment may be deported prior to 
the termination of such imprisonment by the release of the alien from 
confinement, if the Service petitions the appropriate court or other 
entity with authority concerning the alien to release the alien into 
the custody of the Service for execution of an order of deportation.''.
            (2) Prohibition of reentry into the united states.--Section 
        212(a)(2) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(2)) is amended--
                    (A) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as 
                subparagraph (G); and
                    (B) by inserting after subparagraph (E) the 
                following new subparagraph:
                    ``(F) Aliens deported before serving minimum period 
                of confinement.--An alien deported pursuant to section 
                242(h)(2) is excludable during the minimum period of 
                confinement to which the alien was sentenced.''.
    (c) Execution of Deportation Orders.--Section 242(i) of such Act (8 
U.S.C. 1252(i)) is amended by adding at the end the following: ``An 
order of deportation may not be executed until all direct appeals 
relating to the conviction which is the basis of the deportation order 
have been exhausted.''.
    (d) Notification Requirement.--The Attorney General shall notify 
each alien incarcerated in a State or Federal prison of any available 
option for voluntary deportation and prisoner transfer where the alien 
would be incarcerated for the remainder of the sentence of confinement 
in the country to which deported.

SEC. 4. CONGRESSIONAL STATEMENT CONCERNING INCARCERATION IN COUNTRY TO 
              WHICH CRIMINAL ALIENS ARE DEPORTED.

    (a) Congressional Findings.--The Congress makes the following 
findings:
            (1) Aliens entering the United States without the knowledge 
        or permission of the Federal Government have become a major 
        economic and social problem in many States.
            (2) The number of undocumented aliens committing felony 
        crimes has reached staggering proportions in California and in 
        other States.
            (3) In 1988, 5,500 undocumented aliens were incarcerated in 
        California prisons; in 1994 there are 16,000.
            (4) In 1993 incarcerated undocumented aliens represented 
        approximately 15 percent of the total California State prison 
        population.
            (5) The cost of incarcerating each State prisoner in 
        California ranges between $15,000 to $30,000 and the cost to 
        the taxpayers of California for the incarceration of 
        undocumented criminal aliens in the State is approximately 
        $402,000,000.
            (6) The State of California has spent over a billion 
        dollars in the past 5 years to incarcerate undocumented 
        criminal aliens.
            (7) The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) 
        estimates that the average cost to deport an undocumented 
        criminal alien is $600.
            (8) The United States has bilateral treaties concerning 
        prisoner transfers with several countries. The treaties have 
        strict criteria requiring that all parties, the United States 
        Department of Justice, the United States Department of State, 
        the foreign government, and the prisoner, consent to the 
        transfer. The prisoner must voluntarily request such a 
        transfer.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) the President should direct the Secretary of State to 
        enter into negotiations with other countries in order to 
        conclude bilateral or multilateral agreements to provide for 
        incarceration in the country to which an alien is deported when 
        an alien is deported while subject to a term of imprisonment in 
        the United States;
            (2) all existing agreements regarding prisoner transfer 
        should be renegotiated to remove the requirement of prisoner 
        approval and all other barriers to prisoner transfer; and
            (3) any prisoner transfer agreement should include the 
        assurance that prisoners will complete the full term of any 
        sentence upon transfer to another country.

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