President Joe Biden’s 2025 budget proposal includes $4.7 billion in emergency funds for border security to allow the Department of Homeland Security to step up operations in the event of a migrant surge, according to a portion of the budget reviewed by NBC News.
The contingency fund would allow DHS to use funds on an as-needed basis when the number of undocumented migrants crossing the southern border exceeds a certain, unbudgeted threshold. If the money is not used to eliminate the increase, the money will be transferred to the general funds of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
The demand is likely to fall on deaf ears congressional republicans who have already given up The Biden administration has requested $13.6 billion in an emergency supplemental request to respond to record numbers of migrants crossing the border.
This comes at a time when both CBP and ICE are facing significant budget deficits.
NBC News first reported that unless Congress helps close a $500 million budget gap, ICE will have to begin cutting key operations by May.
Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller said Republicans’ blocking of border provisions in a national security supplemental bill earlier this year would leave his agency in a more vulnerable position as the number of migrants increases as temperatures warm.
“I certainly understand that the number of migrants crossing the southern border can increase and probably will increase in the coming weeks and months,” Miller said. “I think when we looked at the national security bill, it gave us additional powers and resources to make decisions so that we can quickly screen and deport people who don’t have a valid asylum claim. .”
Biden’s budget also includes $405 million from Congress to hire 1,300 more Border Patrol agents, funding to maintain ICE’s 34,000 existing detention beds, $1 billion for aid to Central America to address the root causes of migration, and nearly $1 billion to clear the backlog. requires dollars. There are 2.4 million pending cases in US immigration courts.
To combat fentanyl smuggling, the budget calls for $849 million to hire 1,000 additional CBP officers and border fentanyl detection technology that could stop the illegal drug from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
After NBC News reported that some fentanyl detection scanners were not being used because Republicans opposed funding to put them in place, Sen. Jon Tester, D.-Mont., asked Congress to fund the technology.
The budget also requests funds from Congress to ensure that unaccompanied migrant children are placed with relatives and sponsors as quickly as possible.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement, “The President’s budget, along with the Senate’s bipartisan border security legislation, is vital to meeting the needs of our workforce and the challenges we face. The President’s Budget prioritizes staying ahead of the diverse and complex threats facing the nation and underscores our unwavering commitment to keeping the American people safe.”