[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 31 (Thursday, February 16, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E356-E357]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


          CRIMINAL ALIEN DEPORTATION IMPROVEMENTS ACT OF 1995

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                               speech of

                          HON. C.W. BILL YOUNG

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 10, 1995

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 668) to 
     control crime by further streamlining deportation of criminal 
     aliens.

  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 
668, the Criminal Alien Deportation Act. This legislation represents 
title VIII of the Taking Back Our Streets Act, one of the 10 points of 
the Republican Contract With America, and continues our efforts here in 
the House to address our Nation's crime problem.
  The legislation we consider today makes several amendments to the 
Immigration and Nationality Act and other immigration laws to address 
the problem of aliens who commit serious crimes while they are in the 
United States, and gives federal law enforcement officials additional 
tools with which to combat organized immigration crime.
  The most significant provisions of H.R. 668 are intended to 
accomplish one or both of two broad goals. First, the bill strengthens 
the Government's ability to efficiently deport aliens who are convicted 
of serious crimes. Second, the legislation adds immigration crimes to 
those crimes that the Federal Government may investigate under the 
Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization [RICO] law, and adds 
certain other crimes to the definition of ``aggravated felonies,'' 
thereby expanding the number of criminal aliens who can be deported. 
The bill makes it clear that expedited deportation procedures that 
currently apply to nonresident aliens also apply to aliens who have 
been conditionally granted permanent residence.
  Finally, in an effort to identify criminal aliens who may flee 
jurisdiction to avoid deportation, the bill directs the
 Criminal Alien Identification System, formerly the Criminal Alien 
Tracking Center created by the Violent Crime Control and Law 
Enforcement Act, to assist Federal, State, and local law enforcement 
agencies in identifying and locating criminal aliens who may be 
deported.

  Mr. Speaker, the passage of proposition 187 in California in 1994, 
was indicative of the frustration of the American people with the 
number of illegal aliens in this country. Ironically, under the 
California law, a 7- or 8-year-old child can be deported, yet the 
Federal Government still has difficulty deporting some criminal aliens. 
Under current law we may not deport aliens who have been convicted of 
[[Page E357]] crimes such as serious bribery, counterfeiting and 
forgery, perjury or bribery of a witness, or trafficking in stolen 
vehicles. In addition, aliens who have been sentenced to 5 or more 
years in prison, but have not served a full 5 years may not be 
deported. Sometimes they have been released early simply because of 
prison overcrowding. Furthermore, the INS may not initiate deportation 
proceedings against a criminal alien in prison until he has served 5 
years, which means that sometimes, the criminal alien is released 
before the deportation order is ready and cannot be captured to be 
deported.
  The costs to States for incarcerating these criminal aliens is a 
serious matter for our consideration as well. Yesterday, the House, 
with my strong support, approved an important amendment which would 
reimburse States with large immigration populations for these costs. 
The provision, approved as part of our crime legislation, sets aside a 
total of $650 million annually for the next 5 years. My State of 
Florida houses over 5,500 criminal aliens within its correctional 
system. Consequently, criminal aliens are approximately 10 percent of 
the near 57,000 inmates in Florida's 50 correctional centers. Under 
this plan, Florida will be eligible to receive more than $80 million to 
offset these costs.
  Mr. Speaker, yesterday we took the first step in paying for the costs 
incurred by States to house criminal aliens. However, many aliens who 
commit serious crimes are released into American society before even 
serving out their sentences--where they continue to pose a threat to 
the American people. Today we provide our Nation with the means to 
remove these individuals from our society altogether, and I urge 
support for this legislation.


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