As could be expected, new Democratic budget submissions show a notable decrease in spending allowance for law enforcement agencies but in addition, they also want to slash the funds available to Customs and Border Patrol.
Immediately after this information was released, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy expressed his concerns loudly and openly by calling out the left for “defunding the borders.” McCarthy went on to say that Border Patrol agents “are being pushed like they’ve never been pushed before to protect us” and therefore should be given a budget that reflects that.
McCarthy’s words are unfortunately not hyperbole. A record number of migrants continue to surge through Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s underfunded border, with close to 200,000 passing through in May alone.
An ever-increasing number of the migrants rushing to the border are from Central America, and many of those are affiliated with the infamously violent gang, MS-13. Sex offenders including those convicted of crimes involving children are regularly found among the migrant groups and on top of all of that, drugs are being smuggled through at a record rate. More fentanyl has been recovered in the first half of 2021 than was found all of last year at the border.
The draft for Homeland Security funding was released by the House Appropriations Committee earlier this week. It showed a cut of $927 million from the CBP budget, which is almost half a billion shy of the White House’s request. Missing from the breakdown where funding for the border wall and extra patrol agents, which is perhaps a contributing factor to the increasing retirement rate among active Border Patrol agents.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas faced harsh criticism as a result of the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year. No money was allocated to continue work on the border wall or to pay for extra Border Patrol agents. Although, $345 million is allocated for Customs and Immigration Services to work on the heavy back-load of immigration applications.
Mayorkas defended the left’s decisions and proclaimed that they are working toward creating a preventive system rather than taking immediate and reactionary measures. He along with the rest of the Biden administration is studying “root causes,” as they call them, such as poverty and violence, that would cause people to want to leave their homes and come to America.
Republicans are not impressed with this plan and would prefer an immediate solution to the ever-growing crisis. Republican Representatives Michael Guest (MS), Ralph Norman (SC), and August Pfluger (TX) drilled Mayorkas with questions last week attempting to point out all of the flaws with the new plan. At one point even referencing the border wall Texas Governor Greg Abbott plans to build along his state’s line and how that measure is a reaction to government failure.
Mayorkas attempted to explain that the border issue “is not a one-size-fits-all situation'' and that the Biden Administration was taking a “multi-pronged approach” to solving it, but before he could complete this thought he was interrupted by Congressman Norman. Who said “multi-pronged, wow, multi-pronged? It’s like all the other words - it’s basically you’re not doing anything because the numbers don’t lie, Mr. Mayorkas.” At the rate immigrants are entering the U.S.there will be more than two million migrants within the year.
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