A fiscal 2019 spending measure was introduced in the House on Wednesday that provides $5 billion for a southern border wall and additional funding for border security that aims to achieve “100 percent scanning” of the border within five years.
The Homeland Security appropriations subcommittee measure would fund more than 200 miles of “new physical barrier construction” along the U.S.-Mexico border.
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The legislation also includes $223 million to add 375 additional border patrol agents above the Trump administration request, including 140 canine teams, that, according to the House Appropriations Committee, will “initiate a five-year strategy toward achieving 100 percent scanning on the southern border.”
[Related: Battleground states support more border security funding but not Trump’s wall: Poll]
The measure increases the budget for Immigration and Customs Enforcement by $328 million over fiscal 2018. Of that new funding, $78 million is allotted for the hiring of 400 additional ICE agents and support staff.
The funding far exceeds the $1.6 billion for border security that Congress passed in the fiscal 2018 spending measure and it goes a long way toward achieving President Trump’s top campaign promise to secure the border with a wall.
The funding plan is guaranteed to draw fierce opposition from Democrats, who not only oppose border wall funding but have worked to prevent funding for additional Border Patrol and ICE agents.
Some Democratic lawmakers and candidates for Congress have called for abolishing ICE. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has called for overhauling ICE and has worked to prevent spending bills from including money for new agents or border wall funding.
But Republicans said Tuesday that the agents and and wall are needed to stop the flow of drugs and gangs across the southern border.
“Cartels are trafficking $64 billion a year in drugs and people across our border and much of it comes through one small stretch at the Rio Grande Valley,” said Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Kansas, who chairs the Appropriations Homeland Security subcommittee. “This bill takes the largest steps in years toward finally fulfilling our promise to the American people to secure the border.”
The legislation calls for spending $4.1 billion on detention and removal programs for illegal immigrants who cross the southern border. The funding would pay for 44,000 detention beds, an increase of 3,480 beds.
“This bill fully supports our men and women on the frontline who work tirelessly to keep us safe,” said Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J. “The bill also provides the necessary funding for critical technology and physical barriers to secure our borders. It is a balanced approach that enhances our capabilities and preparedness.”
