[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1493 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.1493

                       One Hundred Fifth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
 the seventh day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven


                                 An Act


 
To require the Attorney General to establish a program in local prisons 
 to identify, prior to arraignment, criminal aliens and aliens who are 
    unlawfully present in the United States, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. PROGRAM OF IDENTIFICATION OF CERTAIN DEPORTABLE ALIENS 
              AWAITING ARRAIGNMENT.

    (a) Establishment of Program.--Not later than 6 months after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, and subject to such amounts as are 
provided in appropriations Acts, the Attorney General shall establish 
and implement a program to identify, from among the individuals who are 
incarcerated in local governmental incarceration facilities prior to 
arraignment on criminal charges, those individuals who are within 1 or 
more of the following classes of deportable aliens:
        (1) Aliens unlawfully present in the United States.
        (2) Aliens described in paragraph (2) or (4) of section 237(a) 
    of the Immigration and Nationality Act (as redesignated by section 
    305(a)(2) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant 
    Responsibility Act of 1996).
    (b) Description of Program.--The program authorized by subsection 
(a) shall include--
        (1) the detail, to each incarceration facility selected under 
    subsection (c), of at least one employee of the Immigration and 
    Naturalization Service who has expertise in the identification of 
    aliens described in subsection (a); and
        (2) provision of funds sufficient to provide for--
            (A) the detail of such employees to each selected facility 
        on a full-time basis, including the portions of the day or 
        night when the greatest number of individuals are incarcerated 
        prior to arraignment;
            (B) access for such employees to records of the Service and 
        other Federal law enforcement agencies that are necessary to 
        identify such aliens; and
            (C) in the case of an individual identified as such an 
        alien, pre-arraignment reporting to the court regarding the 
        Service's intention to remove the alien from the United States.
    (c) Selection of Facilities.--
        (1) In general.--The Attorney General shall select for 
    participation in the program each incarceration facility that 
    satisfies the following requirements:
            (A) The facility is owned by the government of a local 
        political subdivision described in clause (i) or (ii) of 
        subparagraph (C).
            (B) Such government has submitted a request for such 
        selection to the Attorney General.
            (C) The facility is located--
                (i) in a county that is determined by the Attorney 
            General to have a high concentration of aliens described in 
            subsection (a); or
                (ii) in a city, town, or other analogous local 
            political subdivision, that is determined by the Attorney 
            General to have a high concentration of such aliens (but 
            only in the case of a facility that is not located in a 
            county).
            (D) The facility incarcerates or processes individuals 
        prior to their arraignment on criminal charges.
        (2) Number of qualifying subdivisions.--For any fiscal year, 
    the total number of local political subdivisions determined under 
    clauses (i) and (ii) of paragraph (1)(C) to meet the standard in 
    such clauses shall be the following:
            (A) For fiscal year 1999, not less than 10 and not more 
        than 25.
            (B) For fiscal year 2000, not less than 25 and not more 
        than 50.
            (C) For fiscal year 2001, not more than 75.
            (D) For fiscal year 2002, not more than 100.
            (E) For fiscal year 2003 and subsequent fiscal years, 100, 
        or such other number of political subdivisions as may be 
        specified in appropriations Acts.
        (3) Facilities in interior states.--For any fiscal year, of the 
    local political subdivisions determined under clauses (i) and (ii) 
    of paragraph (1)(C) to meet the standard in such clauses, not less 
    than 20 percent shall be in States that are not contiguous to a 
    land border.
        (4) Treatment of certain facilities.--All of the incarceration 
    facilities within the county of Orange, California, and the county 
    of Ventura, California, that are owned by the government of a local 
    political subdivision, and satisfy the requirements of paragraph 
    (1)(D), shall be selected for participation in the program.

SEC. 2. STUDY AND REPORT.

    Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Attorney General shall complete a study, and submit a report to the 
Congress, concerning the logistical and technological feasibility of 
implementing the program under section 1 in a greater number of 
locations than those selected under such section through--
        (1) the assignment of a single Immigration and Naturalization 
    Service employee to more than 1 incarceration facility; and
        (2) the development of a system to permit the Attorney General 
    to conduct off-site verification, by computer or other electronic 
    means, of the immigration status of individuals who are 
    incarcerated in local governmental incarceration facilities prior 
    to arraignment on criminal charges.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.