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