Budget Cuts Helping Immigrant Detainees

California prisons won't hold some illegal immigrant offenders
3:57 PM | March 2, 2009   -   Los Angeles Times

California corrections officials have told the federal government that they will no longer lock up undocumented immigrants on parole violations who enter the country illegally after being deported, a practice that costs the state an estimated $10 million a year.

In a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Friday and in a news conference today, California corrections chief Matt Cate said the federal government should prosecute undocumented immigrants who return to the country after deportation because that is a crime under federal law.

The stance refers to immigrants who had committed crimes in California and finished serving their terms. more