Bush and the illegals

President Bush seems to be trying to make it more difficult than ever for local authorities to arrest illegal immigrants:

Pima County taxpayers would have to shoulder all the local costs to detain illegal immigrants under President Bush's proposed budget.

The budget, released yesterday, kills the $305 million program that helps states and counties offset the costs of keeping illegal immigrants behind bars.

Last year, Pima County received just under $750,000 from the program.

The cut adds "insult to injury, the injury being we don't get reimbursed nearly at cost," said Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry.

Huckelberry estimates the county spends $8 million to $10 million housing illegal immigrants each year. The federal program covers only 10 cents for every dollar the county spends, he said.

"The federal government has completely ignored its responsibility along the border as it relates to local taxpayers," he said.

Chris Simcox, founder of the border watch group Civil Homeland Defense, says the proposed cuts are "another indication that President Bush is so out of touch with what local communities need."

In December, Bush signed an intelligence bill into law, promising to deliver 2,000 new border patrol agents per year for the next five years.

The president's budget proposal, Simcox says, provides for only 210 new agents.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers, mostly from border states, already has introduced legislation that would pump at least $5.4 billion into the detention-assistance program, keeping it alive until 2011.

The fight brewing between Congress and the White House isn't new. The Bush administration has repeatedly sought to eliminate the program since Bush entered office in 2001.

The obvious effect that this will have is to make it more difficult for the states and counties to arrest illegals and will ensure that miserly employers continue to enjoy a steady stream of cheap Mexican labor.