WASHINGTON – During consideration yesterday of the $53 billion Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill, the House approved three amendments offered by Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV).  The amendments boost funding for the prosecution of illegal aliens as well as programs that assist rural female crime victims, and take steps to ensure the federal government is not putting illegal immigrants on its payroll.   

Rep. Capito's first amendment to the bill gives the Southwest Border Prosecutors Initiative an additional $10 million in funding.  Illegal aliens and alien drug smugglers are often apprehended in southwestern states along our border, but oftentimes the federal government opts not to pursue their prosecution.  In these cases, state and county governments must shoulder substantial costs from handling and processing drug and alien cases referred to them from federal arrests.

The added $10 million will support prosecutors, probation officers, courts, and detention facilities operating along America’s southwestern border. 

Capito’s second amendment would add $10 million to the Rural Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, Stalking, and Child Abuse Enforcement Assistance Grants program, under the Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women. 

Rural Domestic Violence Grants fund cooperative efforts between law enforcement, prosecutors, and victim services groups.  These grants provide treatment, counseling and assistance to victims, and help rural communities develop education and prevention strategies.

Capito cited West Virginia statistics when making the case to her colleagues for the amendment.

"To be safe in their communities, women first need to be safe in their homes," Capito said.  "Of the 12,621 domestic violence victims reported in West Virginia in 2005, a total of 8,626 – or 68 percent – were victims of intimate partner violence. We must break this cycle of violence against women."

Capito's third amendment to the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill requires that none of the funds in the bill be spent in violation of an existing law that requires all federal departments to screen their new hires to ensure they are in the country legally.   

In 1996, Congress responded to weaknesses in U.S. immigration law by passing the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.  Upon enactment, this law established pilot programs for employment eligibility verification.  Private employers in selected states could volunteer to participate in these pilot programs.  Federal departments, however, were required by the law to participate in a pilot program.  Eleven years later, the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Justice are not complying with the law and not checking new employees’ legal status.

"There's no excuse for any aliens illegally taking federal jobs," Capito said.

"For years we've had an employment eligibility verification program designed to stop aliens from being hired illegally, and for over a decade we’ve had a law on the books that requires federal agencies to use it for employment eligibility verification.  My position is clear:  the federal government needs to enforce the law when it comes to illegal aliens." 

All of Capito's amendments rerouted existing funding within the bill and thus created no additional taxpayer spending.  The Commerce-Justice-Science bill is expected to pass the House later today.

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