*LA Times: Rapid Repat for California prisons*

The state could save money and reduce the number of inmates by taking
part in a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement program.

By Julie Myers Wood

February 16, 2009

The tentative federal court ruling last week that California must
release thousands of inmates in its correctional system comes as more
bad news for a state trying to enforce the law and control its budget.
One partial solution may lie in a federal program.

Under the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, California must
develop a comprehensive plan to reduce the state prison population by as

many as 57,000 people over the course of two to three years, unless the
state reaches an agreement with the inmates who are the plaintiffs in
the case. Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown's office has announced that the state
will appeal the decision if it becomes final. In the meantime, the state

should reconsider joining a program that is saving millions of dollars
each year in states including Arizona and New York, and soon many
others.

This innovative cost-cutting measure is Immigration and Customs
Enforcement's Removal of Eligible Parolees Accepted for Transfer
program, known as Rapid Repat. On top of significant savings related to
housing inmates, this program has the added benefit of reducing
California's criminal alien -- legal and illegal -- prison population
and would be a logical part of any comprehensive plan to reduce the
prison population.

The program provides for conditional early release of qualifying non-
violent criminal aliens on the condition that they voluntarily agree to
deportation. Under this program, immigrants are not treated differently
from U.S. citizens, as far as early release is concerned. The state must

already have (or put in place) a parole structure that permits early
release for eligible U.S. citizen criminals. Immigrants who have
committed violent, serious felonies are not eligible.

If an immigrant participates but then comes back into the United States
illegally, the individual first serves the remainder of his or her state

sentence. After that, ICE will present the case to the U.S. attorney's
office for federal prosecution for illegal reentry after removal,
subjecting the individual to a potentially lengthy federal prison term.

The success of Rapid Repat in other states demonstrates its potential in

California. New York has used a version of this program since 1995,
saving the state more than $120 million. Arizona joined the program in
late 2005 and has saved more than $18 million. In the last year, Puerto
Rico, Rhode Island and Georgia have begun participating. Rapid Repat
also saves federal taxpayers significant money by reducing federal
detention and court time, and leveraging limited federal detention
resources.

Not only is this program fiscally responsible, there also is interest
from criminal aliens who wish to leave the country. In fact, when I
announced that ICE was expanding the program in 2007 for a brief period,

I got letters daily from inmates begging me to help them go back to
their home countries. Many enclosed copies of their travel documents and

court documents ordering them removed. Not surprisingly, it is rare for
the agency to be contacted by criminal aliens requesting that their
removal from the U.S be expedited.

Yet, despite Rapid Repat's obvious benefits, California has not joined.
The state has one of the highest populations of incarcerated criminal
aliens -- an estimated 30,000. With California's immense prison
overcrowding problems and last week's federal court ruling, the state
needs to act -- and soon. Rapid Repat is a realistic option that
California's political leadership should at minimum begin discussing
seriously again and then join, making it part of any plan to reduce
prison overcrowding.

Like many programs that seek pragmatic solutions, Rapid Repat has been
criticized from both sides. Immigration advocates claim that it is too
harsh on illegal immigrants, and enforcement hawks claim that it is too
soft. Certainly the program is not a panacea for budget woes or
criminal-immigrant problems. But properly managed, Rapid Repat has the
enviable result of encouraging nonviolent criminal aliens to return to
their home countries while saving the U.S. taxpayers significant money.
In these tough times, that's a great place to start.

Julie Myers Wood was the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement
from January 2006 to November 2008.