1-1 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1-2 WHEREAS, The strategy of the United States Department of 1-3 Justice to reduce crime along the United States border by focusing 1-4 on illegal immigration, alien smuggling, and drug trafficking 1-5 generated an explosion in arrests by agents from the United States 1-6 Customs Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the 1-7 Immigration and Naturalization Service at border checkpoints; and 1-8 WHEREAS, In 1999, the five federal southwestern judicial 1-9 districts along the border, including two in Texas, received 27 1-10 percent of all criminal case filings in the United States while the 1-11 other 73 percent were spread among the country's remaining 84 1-12 federal district courts; and 1-13 WHEREAS, From 1996 to 1997, the total number of federal 1-14 criminal cases filed in the Western and Southern districts of Texas 1-15 doubled, and from 1997 to 1999, the number of drug cases filed in 1-16 the Western District of Texas increased 64 percent and 100 percent 1-17 in the Southern District of Texas; and 1-18 WHEREAS, Judicial resources in the five southwestern border 1-19 districts have increased by only four percent, and since 1990, 1-20 congress has not approved any new judges for the Western District 1-21 of Texas, which leads the nation in the filing of drug cases; and 1-22 WHEREAS, As a result of the federal courts being inundated by 1-23 this unprecedented number of new drug and illegal immigration 1-24 indictments, the federal authorities no longer prosecute offenders 1-25 caught with less than a substantial amount of contraband; these 2-1 cases are instead referred to the local district attorneys in the 2-2 border counties of Texas to prosecute; and 2-3 WHEREAS, As a result, local governments in the border 2-4 counties, who are among the poorest in the United States, are being 2-5 overwhelmed with the costs involved in prosecuting and 2-6 incarcerating federal criminals; and 2-7 WHEREAS, The annual cost to prosecute these federal criminal 2-8 cases ranges from $2.7 million to approximately $8.2 million per 2-9 district attorney jurisdiction, and it is anticipated that the 2-10 total cost will reach $25 million per year; and 2-11 WHEREAS, The federal government has infinitely more resources 2-12 than state and local governments and in turn must shoulder a larger 2-13 portion of the financial burden; now, therefore, be it 2-14 RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas 2-15 hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to 2-16 authorize an additional 18 federal judges and commensurate staff to 2-17 handle the current and anticipated caseloads along the United 2-18 States-Mexico border and to fully reimburse local governments for 2-19 the costs incurred in prosecuting and incarcerating federal 2-20 defendants; and, be it further 2-21 RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official 2-22 copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to 2-23 the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of 2-24 the senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of 2-25 the Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this 2-26 resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a 3-1 memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. _______________________________ _______________________________ President of the Senate Speaker of the House I hereby certify that S.C.R. No. 12 was adopted by the Senate on April 4, 2001. _______________________________ Secretary of the Senate I hereby certify that S.C.R. No. 12 was adopted by the House on April 20, 2001. _______________________________ Chief Clerk of the House Approved: _______________________________ Date _______________________________ Governor