Thread: Trump budget funds border wall; eyes shift from poor immigrants to merit-based system

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Tuesday, May 23, 2017

President Trump asked for $2.6 billion to plan and build the first parts of the border wall in his new 2018 budget Monday — part of a major cash infusion the White House says is needed to preserve the gains already made in stemming illegal immigration.

But Mr. Trump has his eye on something even bigger in the future, signaling that he wants to try to shift the country’s immigration system from one where immigrants pick the U.S., to one where the U.S. picks immigrants based on who can best help the country, without becoming a drain on public finances.

In the new budget, Mr. Trump says he’s looking for ways to calculate the “net budgetary effects of immigration programs and policy,” and once he’s able to quantify them he’s eyeing big changes.

“Once the net effect of immigration on the federal budget is more clearly illustrated, the American public can be better informed about options for improving policy outcomes and saving taxpayer resources,” the president said in the new blueprint. “In that regard, the budget supports reforming the U.S. immigration system to encourage: merit-based admissions for legal immigrants, ending the entry of illegal immigrants, and a substantial reduction in refugees slotted for domestic resettlement.”

In the near term, Mr. Trump demands money to fulfill the massive personnel and infrastructure buildup he promised during the campaign, saying it’s needed to secure the border and prevent a relapse into the years of high illegal immigration.

He asked for money for 500 new Border Patrol agents and 1,000 new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and officers to work the country’s interior.

And Mr. Trump asked for more than $1.7 billion in new money to hear immigration cases, keep illegal immigrants in detention during their proceedings, and then deport them when they’re ordered removed.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...s-border-wall/

He asked for money for 500 new Border Patrol agents and 1,000 new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and officers to work the country’s interior.

I think this is a mistake. His request was for 5,000 new Border Patrol Agents and 10,000 new ICE agents. Maybe they reduced it for the Border Patrol because they got a bunch of money in the CR budget for Border Patrol Agents, but his request was or 10,000 new ICE agents, maybe they can't hire them all at once and only included some, but I think this is a mistake in the article.

Originally Posted by Judy

I think this is a mistake. His request was for 5,000 new Border Patrol Agents and 10,000 new ICE agents. Maybe they reduced it for the Border Patrol because they got a bunch of money in the CR budget for Border Patrol Agents, but his request was or 10,000 new ICE agents, maybe they can't hire them all at once and only included some, but I think this is a mistake in the article.

500 and 1,000 was the plan in March. It appears as if nothing has changed.

Trump's tall order: Hiring 15,000 ICE and border patrol agents

by Julia Horowitz
March 3, 2017: 4:43 PM ET

To carry out his tough-on-immigration policies and deport millions of "criminal aliens," President Trump plans to hire 10,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and 5,000 Customs and Border Protection agents as soon as possible.

But finding, hiring and training thousands of new agents is a long and arduous process and the Department of Homeland Security is already struggling to fill the open positions it currently has.

"It's going to be a difficult task, and it's going to take a number of years -- particularly if you're going to do it right," said Gil Kerlikowske, who led Customs and Border Protection from 2014 through January under President Obama.

Both agencies said they are still working on their hiring plans and did not provide details on the criteria for the new hires.

Here are some of the hurdles they could face:

1. This is hiring on a massive scale

Between ICE and the CBP, President Trump wants to hire 15,000 agents. In his immigration reform plan, Trump said he wants "to triple the number of ICE agents" by adding 10,000 more officers. He would also significantly boost the ranks of the CBP, which had nearly 20,000 agents in fiscal 2016.

With unemployment the lowest it's been in eight years, the job market is fairly saturated. "We have almost full employment, so you're competing... against other government agencies, some of which pay more, and you're competing against the private sector," Kerlikowske said.

An entry-level ICE agent starts at nearly $63,000 a year, while an entry-level border patrol agent starts at a little more than $52,000 per year, according to the agency's website.

The last hiring surge was under President George W. Bush. More than 7,000 border patrol agents were added between fiscal years 2006 and 2009.

2. Tests, tests and more tests

There are currently a series of requirements candidates must meet from the start. First, applicants must be younger than 37 when they join the team (unless they're a veteran or had another government law enforcement job).

Prospective ICE agents also must have at least a bachelor's degree. They have to take an entrance exam that tests critical thinking and complete a physical exam, a medical exam, a drug test and a background investigation. Any past arrests, drug use or financial issues may be flagged, though ICE doesn't say it will automatically disqualify a candidate.

Then there's a 16-week basic training program, which includes a five-week Spanish language training course, seven written tests and another physical assessment. Trainees can only score below 70% on one of the written tests -- and, if you do, you only have one chance to pass a makeup exam.

Applicants for CBP jobs must also successfully complete an entrance exam, an interview, a medical exam, a drug test, a physical fitness test, a polygraph (or lie detector) test and a background investigation before receiving an offer.

It takes more than 200 days to hire ICE and CBP personnel, according to a report by government inspectors entitled DHS Is Slow to Hire Law Enforcement Personnel.

And it isn't always smooth sailing. Many applicants balk at all the hoops they have to jump through, according to testimony before Congress by three Homeland Security commissioners in April. More than 40% of CBP applicants failed to either schedule or show up for their entrance exams, which is only step two of the process.

The polygraph tests are also a sticking point. In 2010, CBP found that 60% of applicants who took a polygraph exam failed, according to congressional testimony by assistant commissioner James Tomsheck. Most flunked because they didn't disclose prior drug use or criminal history, he said, which knocks them out of the running.

The agency has not yet responded to a request for more updated data.

Like ICE recruits, CBP agents must go through an intensive training program after they're hired. They're required to complete 58 days of integrated law courses, physical training and firearms and driving instruction. Anyone who isn't fluent in Spanish must also take a 40-day language training program.

There are ways the process can be streamlined, but cutting corners could cause big problems later on, said Jay Ahern, a Bush-era appointee who led the CBP in 2009 and 2010.

"I certainly hope that none of the requirements are relaxed," Ahern said. "Each of the steps that we've put in over the years are there for good reason."

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that it's examining its options to beef up staffing.

"U.S. Customs and Border Protection will maintain our current high standards of recruiting the best America has to offer," said CBP spokesman Michael Friel. "To meet our critical hiring needs, we are exploring ways to recruit individuals that the federal government has already vetted to work in sensitive positions, such as military and federal law enforcement officers while also working to omit redundancies in the hiring process."

3. There are thousands of jobs to backfill

Kerlikowske said that there were 1,200 openings when he left the agency in January, despite a major hiring push during his tenure.

There's been a dearth of applicants for frontline border patrol positions at the nation's ports of entry, the Homeland Security officials testified in April. Staff departures have also posed a major challenge.

In fiscal 2015, CBP had to hire an additional 2,000 frontline employees just to stem losses, the commissioners said. They testified that "losses were significantly outpacing gains."

Some recruits have found it difficult to adjust to life in remote regions on the border, especially if they have young families, Ahern said. Many left for personal reasons, but others found the job too intense.

"[There's] long hours, difficult conditions, the physical assaults they actually have to go through," Ahern said. "People may think they're ready for that, when in fact they're not."

4. It's going to be pricey

The hiring surge will be costly. And the process can't kick off in earnest until Congress passes the budget for fiscal 2018.

For fiscal 2017, ICE only requested $6.6 million to hire 100 new officers. Meanwhile, CBP requested $3.83 billion to maintain a staff of 21,070 border patrol agents.

The CBP's spokesman Greg Moore said the agency would not estimate how long its new hiring effort will take or how much it will cost.

ICE also said it is still working to implement a hiring plan but would not provide any further details.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/03/news...on-agents-ice/

US


Trump’s Budget Would Hire A Tenth Of The Border Agents Called For In Executive Order


ALEX PFEIFFER
Reporter

4:58 PM 03/16/2017

President Trump proposed a budget Thursday that would hire a tenth of the immigration enforcement personnel he called for in a January executive order.

Trump signed orders calling for the hiring of 10,000 additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers and 5,000 Border Patrol agents; Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly then signed memos implementing this hiring surge. The hiring of additional border patrol agents and ICE officers was a major component of Trump’s immigration plan during his campaign.

The new budget falls well short of those figures.

A press release by the Department of Homeland Security highlighting funding from the budget blueprint for Fiscal Year 2018 said it funds the “hiring of 500 new Border Patrol agents and 1,000 new ICE law enforcement personnel.”

“You can’t hire them all at once,” Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, told The Daily Caller.

A Customs and Border Protection memo states that the CBP workforce needs to increase by 6,743 in the next five years, and that in order to account for a loss of approximately 1,380 losses per year, it must hire around 2,729 Border Patrol agents to achieve full staffing in five years.

There has been no public ICE memo about how it plans to implement the hiring surge called for by Trump and Kelly.

A DHS spokesman told TheDC, “because these agencies need time to significantly ramp up their recruiting pipeline and absorb this surge in new employees, the Budget makes a down payment on this commitment, proposing funding for the first 10 percent of these new hires: 500 Border Patrol Agents and 1,000 new ICE officers and agents in addition to support personnel.”

http://dailycaller.com/2017/03/16/trumps-budget-would-hire-a-tenth-of-the-border-agents-called-for-in-executive-order/

The numbers you're talking about were from a January executive order, not the actual budget. The staffing you're referring to is a 5 year plan. We won't actually know if that happened until 5 years have elapsed.

Uuuh, this makes no sense. Mulvaney thinks his budget includes 5,000 BP agents and 10,000 ICE agents in accordance with the Executive Order. Trump thinks his budget includes 5,000 BP agents and 10,000 ICE agents in accordance with the Executive Order.

Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly then signed memos implementing this hiring surge.

Uuh no. John Kelly didn't sign the memo in the link. The memo was written by Kevin McAleenan, Acting Commissioner of CBP to the Deputy Secretary. And there is no date on it. John Kelly didn't have anything to do with it.

https://www.docdroid.net/HieRtKZ/eo-...-plan.pdf.html

There's a problem. Someone needs to get word to Trump and Mulvaney that something is wrong here, because this 10% down payment BS DOES NOT comply with the Executive Order.

We need an immediate clarification, because this is an internal CBP circumvention of the Executive Order.

ALIPAC needs to go viral on this. Isn't that McAleenan an Obama holdover? Isn't he the one that BP Council opposed? Get word to them, McAleenan is pulling a stunt of some kind in the budgeting process because Mulvaney in another article Jean posted STATES specifically that the FY 2018 Budget includes 5,000 BP Agents for border security, and I'm sure he thinks it also includes the 10,000 ICE Agents. The conversation in Jean's article was about border security and the fence budget. They weren't talking about ICE agents.

SPREAD THE WORD. We've got a worm in CBP messing with the funding!!

Anyone who thinks Trump wants to sit around for 5 years waiting for CBP to hire 15,000 new agents is out of their fricking minds. GET THE WORD OUT so Trump gets the news that his plan is being usurped through budget request shenanigans by CBP and his Executive Order VIOLATED.

Here's some more information on the budget increase:

For Customs and Border Protection, the Trump administration is calling for $2.6 billion for infrastructure and technology to help the agency "deter, deny, identify, track, and resolve illegal activity along the border." That request will include $1.6 billion for new and replacement border wall, $239 million for aircraft and other aviation assets, $202 million for equipment and facilities, $197 million for surveillance technology, $111 million for road construction and maintenance along the border, and $109 million for inspection equipment at ports of entry.

The budget will also propose more than $300 million for recruiting and hiring more agents for the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

That's only enough for the 500 BP and the 1,000 ICE. I don't think Mulvaney and Trump realize what CBP has done with their budget request.

http://www.politico.com/pro/budget-appropriations-brief