Biden Wants To Cut Funding for 'Border Security Assets and Infrastructure' by 96%
By Terence P. Jeffrey | August 4, 2021 | 4:07am EDT
President Joe Biden has now revealed there is at least one area in which he is a fiscal conservative: When it comes to providing the infrastructure needed to secure the border, he wants to spend far less than the government currently spends.
His administration has presented Congress with a Department of Homeland Security budget proposal that calls for slashing spending on what it calls "Border Security Assets and Infrastructure" by 96%.
In fiscal 2021, Congress approved $1,513,000,000 in funding for border security assets and infrastructure. Biden is now asking that Congress approve just $54,315,000 for fiscal 2022. That is a reduction of $1,458,685,000 — or 96.4%.
What exactly is Biden cutting?
Biden's DHS has presented Congress with a 562-page "overview" of its fiscal 2022 budget proposal for Customs and Border Protection. The explanation for its "Border Security Assets and Infrastructure" plan is presented on pages 326 through 350 of this document.
The presentation divides "Border Security Assets and Infrastructure" into six categories: Integrated Fixed Towers (IFT); Remote Video Surveillance Systems (RVSS); Mobile Video Surveillance System (MVSS); MVSS-M2S2 Modular Mobile Surveillance System; Border Security Assets and Infrastructure End Items; and Border Wall System Program.
In fiscal 2020, it received $1,375,000,000. In fiscal 2021, it received the same amount.In the past two fiscal years — as reported in Biden's proposal — the Border Wall System Program has been the most significant of these. "This investment," it says, "includes real estate and environmental planning, land acquisition, wall system design, construction, and construction and oversight of a physical barrier system."
Now, if Biden gets his way, the federal government will not spend one penny in fiscal 2022 on planning or constructing a "physical barrier system" at the border.
"Integrated Fixed Towers" are the next item in DHS's budget proposal for border security. "This investment," according to the proposal, "provides automated, persistent wide-area surveillance for the detection, tracking, identification and classification of illegal entries in threat areas where mobile surveillance systems are not a viable and/or long-term solution."
How much does Biden want for this piece of infrastructure? Nothing.
In fiscal 2020, Congress approved $1,142,000 for these towers. This fiscal year, it approved nothing. Biden wants to make sure it approves nothing again.
"Remote Video Surveillance Systems" are the next item in DHS's budget proposal for border security. "This investment," says the proposal, "consists of permanently mounted remotely controlled systems of daylight or infrared cameras, which enhance situational awareness of border activity and facilitate proper law enforcement resolution."
How much does Biden want for this piece of infrastructure? Nothing.
In fiscal 2020, Congress approved $40,740,000 for these surveillance systems. This fiscal year, it approved nothing. Biden wants to make sure it approves nothing again.
"Mobile Video Surveillance System" is the next item. "This investment consists of sensor equipment mounted on a telescoping mast of a light-duty pickup truck," the proposal says. "MVSS can be rapidly deployed to provide the best visual range for surveillance of several miles and provide situational awareness to the USBP."
In fiscal 2020, Congress approved $14,800,000 for these systems. This year, it approved nothing. Biden wants nothing again.
"MVSS-M2S2 Modular Mobile Surveillance System" is the next item. The proposal explains that the "M2S2" is "the successor to the MVSS investment" and "consists of Non-Developmental Items (NDI)/Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) surveillance systems based on a light truck, with radar and camera sensors, and backhaul communications capability."
This year, Congress approved $15,000,000 for this system. How much does Biden want for it in the coming fiscal year? Nothing.
Finally, there are the "Border Security Assets and Infrastructure End Items." "These procurements," the proposal says, "include funding for multiple technologies and assets for the USBP." Congress approved $77,106,000 for these in fiscal 2020 and $123,000,000 in fiscal 2021.
Biden wants $54,315,000 for fiscal 2022.
Indeed, that $54,315,000 for this one category equals all of the money Biden is requesting for "Border Security Assets and Infrastructure" in fiscal 2022.
At the same time, Biden is calling for $655,000,000 to fund "construction modernization" of CBP's "land ports of entry," where people come to the United States legally.
Yes, Biden wants to cut $1,458,685,000 from federal spending on border security assets and infrastructure aimed at stopping illegal border crossers while increasing spending by $655,000,000 on formal ports of entry.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas discussed his department's budget request in the Senate Homeland Security Committee last week.
"First, the president's budget invests in a secure border," Mayorkas claimed. "It directs $1.2 billion toward more effective and modern port and border security, including a $655 million investment toward modernizing our land ports of entry, another $47 million to integrate Customs and Border Protection detection capabilities and robust investments in border surveillance technology."
"There is no request for additional border wall construction," Mayorkas said.
Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio — the committee's ranking member — expressed incredulity at the Biden administration's proposal.
"You're not providing yourself with the tools you need to be able to allow the Border Patrol to do their job," Portman said.
He is right. Biden will not secure the border.
(Terence P. Jeffrey is the editor in chief of CNSNews.com.)
Surge: Number of Migrants Stopped at the US-Mexico Border in July the Highest in 20 Years
(CNSNews.com) – U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents recorded around 210,000 “encounters” with migrants along the southwest border in July, the highest monthly figure in two decades, a senior Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official said in a court filing on Monday.
Of those stopped at the border, more than 19,000 were unaccompanied minors – a record number – while another 80,000 were family units traveling together, according to David Shahoulian, assistant secretary for border and immigration policy at the DHS.
While in May and June there were more than 6,000 encounters a day; in July the daily average rose to 6,779 individuals a day, he said, describing the July figures – the highest since fiscal year 2000 – as “historic.”
The CBP has yet to release official data on numbers of migrants stopped on the southwest border for July, but Shahoulian provided the preliminary figures in papers filed in the D.C. District Court, in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and others, challenging the use of Title 42 public health authority to expel migrants without a court hearing due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19.
Shahoulian argued that stopping Title 42 now would carry serious risks.
“During this period and given the unique public health danger posed by the ongoing pandemic, implementation of the CDC Order is critical to preventing overcrowding and the spread of infection within DHS facilities,” he wrote.
On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention extended the Title 42 order issued under the Trump administration last October. It said the order would remain in place “until the CDC Director determines that the danger of further introduction of COVID-19 into the United States from covered noncitizens has ceased to be a serious danger to the public health, and the Order is no longer necessary to protect the public health.”
The number of migrants stopped at the border each month has been rising steadily since the start of 2021: 78,442 in January, climbing to 101,095 in February, then a sizeable jump to 173,265 in March, up to 178,850 in April, 180,641 in May, 188,829 recorded in June, and now the preliminary figure of 210,000 in July.
The 210,000 encounters for July reported by Shahoulian would mark a 413.08 percent increase over the same month one year earlier, when 40,929 were recorded. Going back another year – before the COVID-19 pandemic – the monthly number for July 2019 number of encounters was 81,777, still significantly lower than the month just ended.
The 210,000 figure takes the total number of encounters since fiscal year 2021 began on October 1 to around 1,329,204 – up 279.3 percent from the 350,400 recorded for the equivalent 10-month period in FY 2020 (an increase of 279.3 percent) and up from 862,256 for the 10-month period in FY 2019 (an increase of 54 percent).
The more than 19,000 unaccompanied minors picked up on the border in July, as provisionally reported by Shahoulian, compares to 2,509 in July 2020 (an increase of 657.2 percent), and to 5,846 in July 2019 (an increase of 225 percent).
Shahoulian in his court filing did not provide a nationality breakdown for the preliminary July figures, but the number of migrants stopped at the border who are not from either Mexico or the northern triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, has also climbed sharply this year.
In June, 47,224 encounters related to people from countries “other” than Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, up from just 1,821 in June 2020 and 16,188 in June 2019.
The year-to-date total number of those from “other” countries in FY 2021 stood at 187,634 at the end of June, compared to 42,090 for the equivalent 9-month period in FY 2020 (an increase of 345.7 percent), and 82,304 for the 9-month period in FY 2019 (an increase of 127.9 percent).
Referring to the overall figures, Shahoulian in his filing offered some historical context, and indicated that the department’s facilities, operating with restrictions due to the pandemic, were struggling to cope with the border surge.
“These constitute the highest numbers of monthly encounters recorded by CBP in more than twenty years, including during previous surges when the Department was not constrained by COVID-19 capacity considerations,” he wrote.
“As noted above, due to COVID-19-related guidance, border facilities are currently expected to operate at only 25 to 50 percent capacity, depending on individual facility infrastructure and facility type. Due to this combination of factors, many CBP facilities are already over that capacity – many significantly so, even with the CDC Order in place.”
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