Another U.S. government funding deadline is near, while a huge spending bill is not looking likely as the battle between Republicans and Democrats in Congress over President Donald Trump’s push to toughen immigration policy continues.
Congress has until March 23 to work out how to fund government agencies in order for another shutdown to be avoided.
However, the immigration issue is still not resolved as Republicans are seeking hundreds of millions of dollars more for the Department of Homeland Security to expand the number of beds for immigrant detainees and to hire more federal agents to patrol U.S. borders and the country’s interior.
“If you increased the number of beds, the number of people detained in this country will likely be increased,” said Sarah Pierce, a policy analyst for the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute. She added that the DHS funding request would help Trump carry out initiatives to expand detentions, including possibly those of children who are in the country illegally. That means that some immigrants could spend two years in detention until the court systems decide what to do.
According to Reuters, Congressional negotiators are also tussling over a Republican provision prohibiting the use of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement funds to facilitate abortions for immigrant detainees.
Meanwhile, the push for the border wall continues as Trump is seeking $1.6 billion which is required for the construction to begin. During his campaign, Trump promised that Mexico will be paying for the wall, which Mexico has already rejected.
The $1.6 billion is considered a down payment on a construction project likely to end up costing more than $18 billion. Trump inspected wall prototypes and urged Congress to fund it during his visit to California on Tuesday. Democrats, however, argue that the bill for funding the wall is a waste of money.
Furthermore, a coalition of 83 Hispanic, African-American and Asian-American members of the House of Representatives also wrote this week to congressional leaders urging them to “reduce funding to DHS’s detention and deportation machine,” Reuters reported.
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