Today, Congressman Josh Gottheimer wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, urging him to provide State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) funds for Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17) to counties in North Jersey.

The SCAAP program reimburses states and local governments for their cost of holding undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes in local correctional facilities. For FY17, Congress allocated $210 million in SCAAP funds that the Department of Justice has not yet made available to the State of New Jersey. These are unfunded mandates that hit the taxpayer square in the wallet. Last year, the State of New Jersey received $3,265,288 from SCAAP, with money going to each county in the Fifth Congressional District.

“Convicted criminals and terrorists who threaten our security should be locked up and prevented from harming our communities. But without SCAAP funds, our enforcement is ‘all talk, no action.’ I strongly urge this Administration to make resources available to counties in my District so they can continue to protect us from violent crime and ISIS inspired lone wolf terror. No more unfunded mandates,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5).

“Last year, Bergen County taxpayers received more than $500,000 back from the federal government through the SCAAP program, and almost $7 million through a cooperative agreement with the federal government at our correctional facility in Hackensack. I applaud Congressman Gottheimer for fighting to make sure local law enforcement here in North Jersey has the resources needed to fulfill our mission, protect our communities, and save taxpayers money,” said Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino.

In Congress, Rep. Gottheimer has been fighting to support law enforcement and first responders and lowering property taxes by getting a better return on investment (ROI) here in the Fifth District. Residents in the Fifth District pay some of the highest taxes in the nation, but only get back 33 cents for every dollar they send to Washington, D.C. Mississippi, in contrast, gets $4.38 cents for every dollar.

The text of the letter can be found here.