The White House said Sunday that President Donald Trump’s budget proposal that will be released Monday asks for more than $23 billion for border security and immigration enforcement, including funds for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The request on border security comes at a time when the long waited free-wheeling debate on immigration is about to start in the Senate.
The deadline for the Congress to provide a legislative solution that helps immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally when they were children and have benefited from the Obama administration’s DACA program expires on March 5.
Trump previously proposed a framework that provides a path to citizenship for 1.8 million immigrants, only if a border-wall funding is approved as well as changes to family-based immigration and the diversity visa lottery. Several Republicans backed Trump’s framework, while Democrats are criticizing Trump for blackmailing.
Last week the Congress approved legislation that will increase budget caps by $300 billion for 2018 and 2019. As a part of the increase, the White House is proposing an investment of $18 billion to construct a border wall.
According to The Hill, the White House will also request $782 million to hire 2,750 additional law-enforcement officers and agents at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as requesting $2.7 billion to pay for ICE to have an average of 52,000 illegal aliens a day in detention, which is the highest ever level for the agency.
The Hill reports that while Trump’s budget is going to account for the higher caps, the White House said its proposal will also call for spending reforms that would cut deficits by $3 trillion over a decade and also reduce the debt as a percentage of gross domestic product.
“Just because this deal was signed, does not mean the future is written in stone, we do have a chance still to change this [debt] trajectory,” Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Meanwhile the White House is also requesting $85.5 billion for veterans’ medical care and other programs designed to improve veterans’ quality of life, and almost $17-billion to fight the opioid crisis.
Be the first to comment