Obama Wants A Whopping $3.7 Billion To Deal With The Border Crisis
The White House formally asked Congress on Tuesday for $3.7 billion to improve border security along the border, to improve housing conditions where the migrants are being kept, and to speed up deportation proceedings. The amount is almost $2 billion more than earlier reports suggested the Obama administration would request.
White House officials said last month that, as of June 15, 52,000 unaccompanied children from Central America have been apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border this year. In addition, border officials have taken 39,000 more adults with children into custody as of May 31.
Hundreds are coming over the border every day, mostly making their way from violence-stricken areas in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. The causes for the influx are many, but a large portion are children fleeing increased drug and gang violence.
The funding, which needs to be approved by Congress, would go to several federal agencies. The largest amount would go to the Department of Health and Human Services, for which the White House is requesting an additional $1.8 billion to care for the unaccompanied children.
Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security is seeking $1.1 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as an additional $433 million for Customs and Border Protection. A total of $64 million would go to the Department of Justice, most of which would go toward hiring additional immigration judge teams to speed up deportation proceedings. About $300 million would go to the State Department under the proposal, most of which would go toward "efforts to repatriate and reintegrate migrants to Central America."
Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, said the House Appropriations Committee would begin reviewing the president's proposal.
"The Speaker still supports deploying the National Guard to provide humanitarian support in the affected areas - which this proposal does not address," Steel added.
Obama is spending two days this week in Texas. He has faced criticism for not traveling to the border, but he will meet with local leaders - including Republican Gov. Rick Perry - about the crisis.