Federal government slashes its share of cost of jailing illegal immigrants

California will pick up more of the tab for jailing illegal immigrant criminals. The trillion dollar spending bill Congress agreed to slashes federal reimbursement by nearly a fifth.

The allocation is called SCAAP – the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program. It reimburses state and local governments for the cost of jailing illegal immigrants.

The annual appropriations bill the US House and Senate worked out reduces funding for the program by 18 percent.

California lawmakers on both sides of the aisle lobbied hard against the cuts.

So did Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, who made several trips to Washington this year to argue the case for cash-strapped LA County.

Nearly one in four LA County inmates is an undocumented immigrant. The county spends about $95 million a year to house them. Last year, the federal government pitched in $15 million. That amount will shrink to $12 million.

Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore says the federal government should pick the entire bill for what he says is a federal concern.