A BUSY BORDER
Funding and technology for security along the southern border have increased nearly every year for the past 15 and have been effective. The number of people listed by the U.S. Border Patrol as apprehensions/inadmissable has risen and fallen by more than 150,000 in the past four years.
On the table: The Democratic-led House passed legislation Jan. 3, with five Republicans voting in favor, that would have devoted $1.3 billion for fencing and more for border security. The bill would have funded the Department of Homeland Security at current spending levels through Feb. 8. President Donald Trump refused to sign it because it did not include funding for miles of construction of a 30-foot-tall wall, which is at the heart of the current government shutdown. Included in the House bill:
• More than $1.3 billion for new fencing in the Rio Grande Valley and funding to replace secondary fencing in the San Diego sector and other existing pedestrian fencing.
• $366.5 million for border security technology.
• $7.7 million to hire 328 additional U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers.
• $224.6 million for “nonintrusive Inspection equipment” at ports of entry.
• $7.08 billion for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.