More than border wall in spending package
Bill, which averts another shutdown, has other elements.
The bill, which President Trump signed Friday to avert another government shutdown, includes other intriguing provisions.
— A compromise WASHINGTON on border and immigration enforcement cleared Congress on Thursday, giving President Donald Trump just a sliver of the money he wanted for his border wall. The White House said Trump would sign the bill and then declare a national emergency to try to shift money to wall-building from elsewhere in the federal budget. The bill, which averts another government shutdown, includes many other provisions. A look at some of the major elements:
Border wall
The agreement provides $1.375 billion for 55 miles of Trump’s wall, all of it in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings by far. The deal includes $1.03 billion for 44 miles on normal soil and 11 miles on levees. The bill does not specify how much of the construction will extend existing barriers and how much will replace those barriers.
Trump inherited barriers covering 654 miles, or about one-third of the border, much of it built from 2006 to 2009. So far, his administration has awarded contracts for 97 miles, including 83 miles to replace existing barriers. Work begins this month on his first extension — 14 miles in the Rio Grande Valley.
Wall-building will be prohibited in some environmentally or historically significant areas, including the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge, Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, La Lomita Historical Park and the privately run National Butterfly Center.
Short-term family detention at border
The pact provides $30 million for a new Customs and Border Protection holding center in El Paso, Texas, and $33.5 million to upgrade the agency’s holding center in McAllen, Texas.
It prohibits “chain-link fence-type enclosures” that have been used in McAllen. Critics call them “cages.” It also requires “appropriate temperature controls,” a response to widespread complaints that the facilities are almost unbearably cold. And it urges the use of better blankets.
The Border Patrol’s El Paso sector, which covers West Texas and New Mexico, has emerged as the second-busiest corridor for illegal crossings in the last few months, jumping past Tucson, Arizona; San Diego; and Laredo, Texas.
Immigration detention beds
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will receive money to house an average daily population of 40,520 people, mostly single adults but also families. That’s unchanged from the 2018 budget. The agency often houses more than it is budgeted for. There are currently 48,747 detainees.
Crucially, the bill does not prevent the agency from moving money around in its budget to fund more detention beds, and it does not place a cap on detentions. Initially, Democrats wanted to slash the number of beds, a move that was eventually rejected.
Immigrants in the U.S. illegally can be detained. Those who have violated the terms of their visas can be deported, usually after a criminal conviction. Immigrant detention is at the highest levels ever, as the Trump administration pushes hardline policies.
The agreement provides funding for 100,000 people to get “alternatives to detention,” typically an ankle monitor, while they await court dates. The administration had requested funding for 82,000.
Border Patrol hiring
The spending plan provides no money for additional Border Patrol agents, a rebuke of the administration’s initial request for 750 more agents as part of a multiyear plan to add 5,500.
Border Patrol hiring has come under heavy criticism from lawmakers in both parties.
The pact allows the administration to “sustain the current level of Border Patrol agents.” There were 19,544 agents in January.