FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AG THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6,1997 (202) 616-2777 TDD (202) 514-1888 JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SEEKS 4.9 PERCENT INCREASE IN FY 1998 BUDGET TO CONTINUE THE FIGHT AGAINST YOUTH VIOLENCE, ILLICIT DRUGS, TERRORISM, AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AG Reno: "We Must Build on our Results" WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Justice today announced that it is seeking a 4.9 percent boost over its 1997 budget to enhance its fight against youth violence, illicit drugs, terrorism, and illegal immigration. The Department is requesting a total of $19.3 billion in Fiscal Year 1998. Since President Clinton took office, the Justice Department's total budget has increased more than 69 percent--the most of any cabinet agency. "During the first term, we helped cut the rate of youth arrests for violent crime. Overall cocaine use has fallen and we are working hard to turn youth attitudes on drug use around. We worked last year to pass new comprehensive anti-terrorism legislation, and we deported more criminal aliens than ever before," said Attorney General Janet Reno. "Our 1998 budget request will enable us to build on our results and continue our battles against youth violence, illicit drugs, terrorism and illegal immigration." Highlights of the requested resources would help pay for: - a $233 million increase to crack down on gangs and youth violence through enhanced state and local assistance, anti-truancy and crime intervention programs, more prosecutors and other initiatives; - 17,000 more police officers on the streets for a total of about 80,000 funded since the 1994 Crime Act was passed; - a 4.2 percent increase in funding to fight drugs- -including an 8.8 percent boost for the Drug Enforcement Administration and 168 more DEA agents, 56 new FBI agents, and 37 more Assis-tant U.S. Attorneys to pursue and prosecute drug traffickers; - A total of $389 million to fund counterterrorism programs; - A 13 percent increase in the INS budget, to a record $3.6 billion, to support stepped-up Federal law enforcement activities along the Southwest border, increased removals of criminal aliens and enhanced enforcement against employers who hire illegal aliens. COMBATTING YOUTH VIOLENCE & VIOLENT CRIME "By funding anti-youth violence initiatives, we can keep young people from taking a wrong turn early in life," said Reno. "We must also fulfill the President's pledge to pay for 100,000 community police officers, hire more prosecutors, and build more prison cells." Highlights for these areas include funding for: - Targeting Youth Violence: - $50 million to establish Violent Youth Court programs, which will provide funding for specialized, court-based activities focusing on how to more effectively address violent youth offenders as they move through the justice system; - $100 million for the Prosecutorial Initiatives Targeting Gang Crime and Violent Juveniles Program to fund at least 1,000 new initiatives like hiring new gang prosecutors to target gangs, gang violence, and other juvenile crime; - $75 million to establish Anti-truancy, School Violence and Crime Intervention programs to keep young people out of trouble and to get them back on the right track after they have broken the law; and, - $8 million for funds to public and private non-profit organizations to provide residential services for at- risk or delinquent youth. - Putting More Cops on the Beat: A total of $1.4 billion for the Community Oriented Policing Program (COPS) to hire approximately 17,000 more police officers, bringing the total number of cops funded to about 80,000 of the 100,000 promised in the 1994 Crime Act. Another $45 million will be used to fund law enforcement scholarships and police recruitment grants. - Combatting Violence Against Women: More than $52 million in program enhancements for Office of Justice Programs (OJP) to combat violence against women, bringing State and local assistance under the 1994 Violence Against Women Act to $249 million. A total of $652.5 million has been made available since the inception of this program in 1996. - Improving Identification of Suspects and Sexual Offenders: $37 million in additional OJP funding to enhance suspect and criminal identification technology, including $25 million for the National Sexual Offender Registry and $12 million for DNA Identification Grants. - Keeping Criminals Off the Streets: - Correctional Grants: $38 million in increases to OJP for the Correctional Grants Program, bringing total unearmarked funding to $525.5 million for state and local governments to build nearly 9,000 beds. The Administration will be proposing that correctional grants may be used to cover the cost of offender controlled substance testing and intervention programs; - State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP): A total of $500 million to SCAAP, including $150 million in OJP's Correctional Grants Program and $350 million available for the separate SCAAP Program. This funding will help defray the costs incurred by state and local governments for housing criminal aliens; - Building More Prison Cells: The request includes more than $124.1 million to accommodate our ever-growing inmate population, including construction of federal facilities for more than 1,216 new prison beds and activation of 1,152 beds; and, - Cooperative Agreement Program (CAP): $22.5 million for the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) to replace about 700 detention beds (whose contracts expire by 1998), and to purchase additional beds to support the projected growth in the Federal detention population nationwide. This brings CAP's total funding to $35 million. - Restoring Needed Infrastructure: $162 million in FBI, USMS, USA, DEA and INS infrastructure improvements for compatible radio communications, security improvements, facility renovation, field support to complement the growth in enforcement agents, and information resource management. Federal, State and local law enforcement efforts have helped lead to a three percent decrease in the juvenile violent crime arrest rate in 1995 and a drop in violent crime for each of the past four years. CURBING DRUG TRAFFICKING AND ABUSE "With added funding, we can continue our alliance with state and local law enforcement to curb the deadly spread of drugs," said DEA Administrator Thomas Constantine. Highlights include: - Adding 168 New DEA Agents: $29.7 million and 96 DEA agents to identify, investigate and prosecute major Mexican drug trafficking organizations operating along the Southwest border; $11 million and 60 DEA agents to fund a comprehensive approach for attacking methamphetamine abuse; and $5 million and 12 agents to continue implementing DEA's five-year strategy that targets heroin trafficking within the United States. - Hiring 76 New FBI Agents: $19.3 million and 76 agents for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to expand the Department's Southwest Border (SWB) Strategy; investigate public corruption along the SWB; enhance the SWB Special Operations Division; and assist the DEA's Country Attache office in Mexico. - Hiring 37 New Assistant U.S. Attorneys to Fight Drug Trafficking: $5.2 million and 37 attorneys to help reduce the availability of illegal drugs by investigating international and multi-jurisdictional drug trafficking organizations; honoring the commitment made to other nations to combat the international drug trade; and coordinating attacks against international drug organizations such as the Cali cartel. - Expanding Drug Courts: $45 million in additional OJP funding for a total of $75 million in the Drug Courts Program to assist State and local governments in developing specialized drug courts for non-violent offenders to break the cycle of drug abuse and crime. - Funding Additional Treatment and Drug Testing Programs: $33 million in added OJP funding for a total of $63 million for the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment of State Prisoners Program; a total of $35 million under the Edward Byrne Memorial Grant program for state and local drug testing and evaluation programs; $7 million to expand Operation Drug Test, a federal drug testing program begun in 1997 as a 25- district pilot program; and $4.4 million to create the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring System (ADAM), which expands the Drug Use Forecasting System (DUF). Over the past year, the Justice Department has significantly disrupted the flow of cocaine trafficking along the Southwest border by shutting down major Cali Cartel and Mexican drug trafficking organizations; identifying and destroying four major clandestine laboratory sites in Colombia; and successfully prosecuting Mexican drug king pin Juan Garcia Abrego. It has also worked to help cut overall cocaine abuse by 30 percent. FIGHTING TERRORISM & INTERNATIONAL CRIME "We must keep ahead of today's terrorists who seek to threaten American citizens at home and abroad," said FBI Director Louis Freeh. "These funds will help us do the job." Highlights include: - Continuing the Attorney General's Counterterrorism Fund: $29.5 million for a fund, established in response to the Oklahoma City bombing, to reimburse Justice agencies for the costs incurred in preventing and prosecuting domestic or international terrorism, and to finance reward payments. - Providing State and Local Assistance: $17 million to continue three OJP counterterrorism programs established in 1997 to train law enforcement officers and prosecutors to deal with domestic terrorism, and to develop technologies for state and local law enforcement to combat terrorism. - Enhancing International Technology and Legal Coordination: $3.1 million in enhancements to enable the Criminal Division to increase its counter-terrorism initiatives at home and abroad. This funding will allow the Department to hire staff as the United States assumes the Presidency of the G7/P8 in 1997, to eliminate procedural impediments in international computer crime investigations, to implement 12 new extradition and mutual legal assistance treaties, and to increase Justice's legal presence overseas. - Adding More Resources to Prosecute Terrorists: $3.1 million more for U.S. Attorneys to appoint district coordinators to assess domestic terrorism in their districts and be able to prosecute cases involving terrorist attacks. - Opening New Offices: $14.3 million to hire 23 FBI agents to open eight new Legal Attache Offices and enhance eight existing offices in foreign countries. Over the past year the Justice Department successfully prosecuted Rahmzi Ahmed Yousef and others for conspiring to plan 48 hours of terrorism in the sky; obtained a life sentence against Omar Mohammed Rezaq, a Palestinian who hijacked a Cairo- bound Egypt air flight 11 years ago; and proposed a comprehensive package of anti-terrorism measures to upgrade our ability to address terrorism. PROTECTING OUR BORDERS "The Department's request of $3.6 billion for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, a 13 percent increase over FY 97, will enable INS to continue to strengthen border control, increase removals of deportable aliens, and improve INS data systems and record keeping," said INS Commissioner Doris Meissner. Highlights include funding for: - Hiring More Border Patrol Agents & Inspectors: - $62 million to hire 500 additional Border Patrol Agents for the Southwest border, bringing the Border Patrol's agent force to more than 7,000; and, - $19.4 million for 277 additional immigration inspectors and 12 immigration assistants for our nation's airports and seaports. - Adding More Resources to Detain and Deport: - $48.3 million and 181 positions to expand INS detention capacity by activating bedspace at the Buffalo Service Processing Center and Krome (FL) lockdown facility. These resources also will provide additional contract bedspace, including facilities in the San Diego area, and juvenile bedspace; - $12.1 million and 42 positions for INS to locate and remove deportable aliens who have completed the appeals process and who have been issued final orders of deportation; and, - $30.1 million and 156 positions to enhance INS' identification and removal of criminal aliens through expansion of the Local Jails Initiative and improvements to criminal alien records information in the National Criminal Information Center (NCIC). - Improving Technology: $46.5 million for INS to improve its data records infrastructure and the Central Index System (CIS) as well as upgrade the naturalization fingerprint process, customer telephone inquiry systems, and INS' CLAIMS Naturalization Case Processing Support System. - Cracking Down on Illegal Labor: $21 million and 156 positions for INS' Interior Enforcement initiative, which will enhance Worksite Enforcement in states with high illegal immigrant populations and illegal labor activities, and will fund the INS' Verification Information System (VIS) to assist employers in quickly verifying the employment eligibility of a non-citizen. - Continuing to Develop Advanced Identification Systems: $16.2 million for INS to continue developing biometric identification systems (IDENT) and case tracking systems (ENFORCE). These resources will complete the deployment of IDENT along the Southwest border. - Enhancing Interagency Technology Initiatives: $11.5 million for joint INS-U.S. Customs Service technology initiatives at land border ports of entry, such as the installation of license plate reader devices. Over the past year, INS removed a record 68,000 criminal and other deport-able aliens; increased the number of Border Patrol Agents "on the line" by nearly 1,000; and continued its efforts to reform the U.S. asylum system, which has increased productivity and reduced the number of new cases filed. OTHER JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INITIATIVES - Reducing FOIA Backlogs: $41.2 million to allow the Department to fully implement the Electronic Freedom of Information Amendments (E-FOIA) of 1996 to continue reducing FOIA backlogs and to meet in a timely way the additional category of FOIA requests by individuals engaged in disseminating information who can demonstrate þurgency to inform the public concerning actual or alleged Federal government activity.þ - Providing More Support for Litigating Divisions: $18.1 million in additional resources for litigating divisions to address national initiatives such as prosecuting organized tax protestor groups, prosecuting intentional pollution by vessels of our inland waterways and coastal waters, coordinating Federal efforts to enforce statutes and international treaties covering the use of CFCs, and prosecuting police brutality and hate crimes. Also included are added resources to defend claims based on the Financial Institution Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act, improve efforts to enforce the American Disabilities Act, and increase criminal antitrust enforcement activities, as well as review complex proposed mergers. - Fighting Organized Crime: $8.8 million in additional resources to fight organized crime, including $5 million to hire 28 FBI agents to enhance the FBI's investigation of the La Cosa Nostra (LCN) organized criminal enterprise. The FBI has developed a five-year strategy (Operation Heaven's Gate) aimed at reducing the LCN's influence in designated labor unions and related industries. Also included is an increase of $3.8 million in prosecution resources for U.S. Attorneys offices to handle an expected increase in the number of organized crime cases generated by the FBI. - Adding Resources for Prosecutions in our Nation's Capitol: $16.6 million to provide additional support staff on the D.C. Superior Court side of the U.S. Attorneys Office in the Washington, D.C. Additional attorney resources are also sought to enable the U.S. Attorneys Office to implement a community prosecution initiative, to address the rising problem of domestic violence and to staff a "Cold Case Squad" to pursue unsolved murder cases. - Funding the National Advocacy Center: $8.3 million to provide operating resources for the new National Advocacy Center (NAC) in Columbia, South Carolina, which will be jointly operated by the U.S. Attorneys and the National District Attorneys Association. - Continuing the Crime Victims Fund: In 1998, including receipts from two recent cases involving Archer Daniels Midland and Haarman & Reimer Corp. (a subsidiary of Germany's Bayer), $286.6 million will be available for crime victim compensation and assistance programs. # # # 97-047A
