State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP): Data Brief

February 27, 2025 (R48441)

The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) is a payment program that reimburses states and localities for correctional officers' salary and training costs incurred for incarcerating "undocumented criminal aliens." States and localities can only use SCAAP funds for "correctional purposes."¹

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) defines the term "undocumented criminal alien" in the context of SCAAP to mean an alien² who

has been convicted of a felony or two or more misdemeanors; and

(I) entered the United States without inspection or at any time or place other than as designated by the Attorney General;

(ii) was the subject of exclusion or deportation proceedings at the time he or she was taken into custody by the State or a political subdivision of the State; or

(iii) was admitted as a nonimmigrant and at the time he or she was taken into custody by the State or a political subdivision of the State has failed to maintain the nonimmigrant status in which the alien was admitted or to which it was changed under Section 248, or to comply with the conditions of any such status.³

Any state or locality that incurred reimbursable costs for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens is eligible to apply for SCAAP funding. For states and localities to qualify for SCAAP reimbursement, aliens under their jurisdiction must have at least one felony or two misdemeanor convictions and be incarcerated for at least four consecutive days.

SCAAP was created by Section 20301 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (P.L. 103-322), and it is currently codified at Section 241(I) of the INA. The program is administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), which is part of the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ's) Office of Justice Programs (OJP). The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) aids BJA in administering the program.

This data brief provides information on SCAAP awards by state and U.S. territory for the last 10 fiscal years (FY2015-FY2024).

Table 1. SCAAP Awards by State and U.S. Territory, FY2015-FY2024

(amounts in nominal dollars)

State	FY2015	FY2016	FY2017	FY2018	FY2019	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023	FY2024
Alabama	$114,447	$140,547	$19,787	$13,688	$13,881	$6,549	$8,567	$338,330	$300,737	$192,982
Alaska	94,847	103,101	—	107,717	60,010	71,663	72,057	—	—	—
Arizona	6,976,580	7,462,786	7,690,614	8,361,743	8,106,229	7,394,247	7,917,630	6,512,822	6,234,167	4,312,538
Arkansas	362,771	139,968	142,575	128,675	144,524	167,427	197,669	219,653	219,975	204,460
California	56,998,988	67,445,197	72,735,910	76,715,095	71,077,960	79,770,997	77,267,143	88,163,498	78,513,167	59,419,543
Colorado	2,508,648	3,467,156	3,234,456	3,541,078	3,327,220	3,892,511	5,067,486	4,158,422	4,527,226	2,707,412
Connecticut	615,136	983,554	915,793	1,066,696	909,160	807,434	3,181,249	1,194,121	1,134,231	752,067
Delaware	81,227	88,632	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Florida	8,966,337	11,322,476	9,725,137	9,937,271	11,185,067	12,715,715	13,720,961	11,106,676	11,860,863	8,921,688
Georgia	1,248,373	1,368,020	1,713,363	1,718,665	1,699,199	1,997,669	2,137,559	1,805,920	1,611,461	1,114,128
Hawaii	227,572	334,737	395,709	499,446	284,525	374,236	662,720	542,488	867,707	581,706
Idaho	285,226	289,283	368,957	413,812	392,417	241,599	391,632	331,047	277,554	229,951
Illinois	6,124,387	6,787,219	8,605,525	10,374,673	9,117,354	829,222	901,094	756,155	727,704	417,306
Indiana	631,687	743,742	671,623	933,558	941,444	1,155,242	1,346,701	1,358,640	1,410,994	914,649
Iowa	248,688	493,944	364,694	406,174	349,808	419,761	101,112	433,441	371,399	314,957
Kansas	444,923	476,085	777,566	760,182	813,293	468,689	502,769	558,498	981,514	751,855
Kentucky	134,227	175,048	204,350	210,426	235,438	318,327	293,580	215,228	242,157	214,391
Louisiana	62,392	63,066	73,206	65,659	67,951	97,674	93,719	92,014	87,016	62,961
Maine	118,063	116,871	66,757	35,027	45,020	44,926	32,588	24,797	38,115	14,839
Maryland	2,176,801	2,832,305	2,857,773	2,689,966	3,304,181	4,750,152	7,649,739	5,187,445	5,770,693	3,154,839
Massachusetts	3,605,305	3,765,864	2,485,824	2,606,623	2,265,735	2,115,488	2,135,980	2,533,419	2,482,878	1,450,444
Michigan	815,478	881,745	867,736	1,063,279	1,189,964	1,110,480	1,303,500	1,151,922	1,084,726	716,251
Minnesota	1,169,656	1,291,196	915,014	968,533	312,139	309,751	386,629	360,849	425,220	309,539
Mississippi	10,310	12,616	13,826	—	5,349	—	—	—	—	—
Missouri	148,770	205,878	176,894	218,906	206,885	190,507	28,133	185,528	173,074	116,329
Montana	20,611	36,118	22,194	27,390	23,588	28,863	37,672	33,324	27,574	20,644
Nebraska	494,173	628,012	358,748	759,640	778,544	1,058,184	1,084,819	884,520	1,399,271	862,966
Nevada	2,318,899	2,402,583	2,085,303	2,416,631	4,302,076	3,815,572	4,223,617	3,563,635	4,146,928	2,879,945
New Hampshire	99,180	117,022	146,819	98,762	91,896	119,997	106,879	99,447	94,476	65,409
New Jersey	9,299,455	10,093,189	11,311,714	12,042,543	12,608,355	11,377,965	15,840,921	9,595,129	9,429,424	5,775,594
New Mexico	619,330	629,422	711,985	317,110	291,142	289,049	463,884	376,224	304,263	231,276
New York	26,909,182	29,524,609	19,127,402	23,934,356	25,809,894	25,997,075	24,223,846	6,159,636	24,342,826	16,986,499
North Carolina	2,933,226	3,118,199	3,227,846	4,742,946	5,201,587	4,802,067	6,106,940	7,317,380	7,091,024	3,015,949
North Dakota	36,886	43,914	33,079	87,250	22,429	53,842	32,605	—	—	—
Ohio	652,926	801,831	822,513	852,312	1,057,323	1,245,804	1,331,920	1,493,554	1,428,187	924,647
Oklahoma	737,170	766,421	1,063,059	1,015,153	1,262,303	1,186,989	1,393,160	1,198,871	1,181,286	831,995
Oregon	2,113,818	2,322,043	2,560,639	2,627,429	2,552,135	3,091,976	353,945	136,687	89,594	238,131
Pennsylvania	2,446,080	2,776,589	3,125,095	3,261,348	3,470,435	3,800,651	6,101,464	3,627,955	3,470,148	2,326,067
Rhode Island	597,336	750,610	874,842	947,270	1,002,858	1,252,418	1,370,555	1,325,777	1,318,639	1,001,353
South Carolina	750,138	756,452	935,496	728,996	835,821	1,121,839	211,814	768,127	487,261	479,428
South Dakota	88,808	99,666	96,404	110,745	88,681	91,837	114,705	98,433	136,887	77,736
Tennessee	468,478	505,244	535,205	554,405	583,466	490,707	619,459	612,975	636,753	525,211
Texas	12,536,442	13,773,759	18,569,465	20,405,701	22,340,706	24,405,869	26,531,033	27,622,139	28,424,414	16,978,537
Utah	744,669	796,640	795,444	1,070,326	1,301,743	583,070	577,192	409,262	429,801	243,236
Vermont	21,354	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Virginia	2,691,271	2,753,327	3,545,741	3,866,717	4,022,986	3,033,504	3,901,793	3,537,603	3,648,768	2,663,959
Washington	2,269,898	2,585,204	1,619,362	771,612	667,724	—	—	—	—	—
West Virginia	1,112	27	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Wisconsin	1,496,172	1,587,693	1,824,503	1,899,111	1,981,452	2,134,833	774,901	2,392,007	2,412,570	8,905
Wyoming	97,593	116,700	150,299	122,916	114,269	—	—	139,171	119,181	—
American Samoa	—	—	6,324	47,537	32,876	29,158	837	11,034	9,730	15,573
Guam	373,482	541,047	221,320	380,164	586,147	—	—	—	—	—
Northern Mariana Islands	60,017	45,381	54,163	84,443	159,712	218,422	—	—	—	—
Puerto Rico	166,246	234,471	235,128	144,730	439,858	286,616	—	—	142,847	—
U.S. Virgin Islands	127,357	136,969	93,554	144,135	536,933	472,101	323,887	330,498	276,656	—

Source: For FY2015-FY2023, see Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), "State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP): Archives," https://web.archive.org/web/20250109072350/https://bja.ojp.gov/program/state-criminal-alien-assistance-program-scaap/archives. For FY2024, see "BJA FY 2024 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) Award Details," https://bja.ojp.gov/funding/scaap-fy24-awards.pdf.

Note: "—" indicates that BJA did not report a SCAAP award for that state or U.S. territory in that fiscal year.

Footnotes

1.	8 U.S.C. §1231(i)(6). Examples of "correctional purposes" include correctional officers' salaries, overtime costs, training and education programs for prisoners, and training for correctional officers on managing the offender population. (U.S. Department of Justice, "Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed eCollection eComments Requested; Extension of a Previously Approved Collection; State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP)," 89 Federal Register 87893, November 5, 2024, at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-11-05/pdf/2024-25705.pdf.)
2.	Federal immigration law uses the term "alien," as defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), to mean persons who are not U.S. citizens or U.S. nationals (e.g., persons born in certain U.S. territories, such as American Samoa).
3.	8 U.S.C. §1231(i)(3).