The Department of Justice would get the smallest budget cut among all cabinet-level agencies if the White House’s 2019 budget proposal were to become law.
The Justice Department’s 2017 budget was $28.4 billion before dropping down to an estimated $28.1 billion in 2018. President Trump’s request for fiscal year 2019 is $28 billion — just a 1.3 percent cut from 2017 to 2019.
Some departments would see substantial growth under Trump’s plan. For example, the Department of Defense budget request for fiscal year 2019 is $597.1 billion, or a 14.1 percent jump from the 2017 budget estimate.
But many departments would get significant reductions over that two year period, including the Department of Agriculture (down 16.4 percent) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (down 18.3 percent).
The budget message from Trump said the budget reflects the administration’s “serious and ongoing commitment to fully secure our border, take the fight to criminal gangs like MS-13, and make our immigration system work for Americans.”
“The Budget provides funding for a wall on our southwest border and additional resources for law enforcement at the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice,” the message said. “The Budget also funds an increase in the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, Border Patrol agents, and immigration judges to improve enforcement at the border and within the United States.”
Trump’s budget calls for $14.2 billion for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Forces. That’s a 2.4 percent increase that the White House said will support the Justice Department’s overall ability to respond to “national security crises; investigate violent and drug-related crime; and apprehend, detain, and prosecute offenders.”
Funding for the Bureau of Prisons would remain at $7.1 billion, which is about one-third of the Justice Department’s budget.
Federal statistics show there are 183,000 total federal inmates, 155,000 of whom are in BOP custody. Another 18,000 are in privately managed facilities.
