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Maria Sacchetti
Reporter Covering Immigrant Communities and Immigration and Customs Enforcement
According to a budget document obtained by the Washington Post, immigration and the US Customs administration are actively lobbying for an additional $ 1 billion to increase deportations to their highest levels.
The agency urged Congress last month to include the additional funds in a temporary spending measure that lawmakers must pass to avoid the closure of the government when the new fiscal year will begin Oct. 1.
On Thursday, congressional leaders from both political parties agreed to postpone the fight for Trump's plan to build a border wall until after the November elections. The agreement would keep the government open by using a series of spending laws, including a "continuing resolution" that would fund federal agencies until December 7. The ICE asked Congress to include the $ 1 billion increase in the ongoing resolution.
[Congress planning to avert government shutdown]
In the funding application, the authorities announced that they plan to deport more than 253,000 immigrants in the next fiscal year, from October 1 to September 30, 2019. This is the highest government target since 2014, when which the Obama administration has expelled more than 300,000.
Recent statistics show that the administration is on track this year to deport far more than the 226,000 immigrants expelled in 2017, although final figures are not available for several weeks. Officials deport about 20,000 immigrants a month and expelled more than 191,000 immigrants by June 30.
Without the extra money, officials warned in the application, they may be forced to suspend arrests and expulsions of people considered "Threats to Public Safety" until Congress passes a comprehensive bill. Officials also said that thousands of immigrants held in federal institutions could face "service cuts" if Congress refused funding, although they did not provide details.
Katie Waldman, spokesperson for the US Homeland Security Department spokeswoman, said the proposed $ 1 billion increase was in line with the agency's $ 8.2 billion budget request for 2019.
"If Congress approves the request, ICE would have the necessary funding for the operations needed to support and augment the staff and operations, as the DHS Secretary Judge deems appropriate," Waldman said in a statement.
Democrats have strongly criticized ICE spending and are unlikely to provide the votes needed to approve such an increase. But officials and human rights activists say demand is a sign that the Trump administration is moving ahead with its rigid immigration platform and will use it to rally Republican candidates in mid-term elections. November.
An August CNN poll found that 77% of registered voters said immigration would be "very" or "extremely" important to decide for which candidate to vote in November, lagging behind the economy and health care .
In their application, immigration officials said they needed extra money to cover the rising costs of arrests and expulsions. The officials say this year they stopped an average of 43,000 immigrants a day, a little more than the Congress authorized in the current budget.
Immigrant advocates urged Congress to deny additional funding, saying the ICE had been scolded by tax watchdogs of the past cost overruns. In general, they say, interim spending measures maintain agency funding to continue operations.
"It's outrageous," said Mary Small, Detention Watch Network Policy Director, who opposes immigration detention. "It's really disappointing to see them look into this kind of scare campaign."
Last month, Trump congratulated immigration officials and border officials at the White House, amid calls from some Democrats to abolish the CIE. "My commitment to all of you is that my administration will not rest until you have the resources, tools, and authorities you need to do your job and do it right," he said. he declares. "You save lives."
The administration says its top priority remains to deport criminals, but ICE and other immigration agencies are increasingly under fire to target immigrants without criminal records and for dividing families at the border without planning to reunite them.
According to the ICE data, about 44% of those expelled on June 30 had no criminal record.
The ICE funding request came weeks after the Department of Homeland Security notified Congressional Subcommittees that it was going to transfer about $ 200 million to the Coast Guard CIE, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other DHS agencies. The transfer of nearly $ 10 million from FEMA has provoked public outrage as the southeastern United States prepares for a powerful hurricane, Florence, and the likelihood of costly intervention. a cleaning.
Officials said the money was taken from accounts that finance office supplies and other expenses – not the FEMA relief fund. DHS spokesman Tyler Q. Houlton described the protests as "an unfortunate attempt to push a fake program."
DHS records show that money transfers to FEMA CIE and other Homeland Security agencies have reduced funding for federal air officers, dog screening at airports, armored vehicles Federal investigators, Border Security and E-Verify. A small amount – less than $ 40,000 – has also been diverted from "anti-terrorism" operations, according to a copy of the 39-page document DHS sent in June to congressional officials to inform them of transfers made in August.
DHS said that immigration officials needed this money because of the growing number of arrests and deportations, including "high-risk special charter flights" to countries that had previously refused to accept detainees.
Emily Guskin and Erica Werner contributed to this report.
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