Thread: Obama budget puts security first at the border

Obama budget puts security first at the border

He'll ask Congress to help curb the flow of arms to Mexico before seeking any immigration reform.

By Anna Gorman and Peter Nicholas
May 6, 2009

Reporting from Washington and Los Angeles --

President Obama will ask Congress for $27 billion for border and transportation security in the next budget year, fulfilling a promise to the Mexican government to battle the southbound flow of illegal weapons and setting the stage for immigration reform by first addressing enforcement, administration officials said Tuesday.

The spending, an 8% increase over this year's, will enable the administration to hire more agents and enhance security at air- and seaports. Obama also will request more money to expand screening for illegal immigrants in jail and to improve a Web-based program for verifying workers' employment eligibility.

The funding requests are part of the 2010 budget Obama plans to present to Congress on Thursday. Legislators last week passed a $3.5-trillion budget blueprint that tracks Obama's major policy goals, including a healthcare overhaul and a push for renewable energy sources.

The border and immigration budget underscores differences with the Bush administration, which emphasized border fence construction, increased detention space and more teams to raid work sites. Obama has already changed the game on work-site enforcement, giving immigration agents new guidelines that shift the emphasis from illegal workers to employers who break the law by hiring them.

In devoting more money to security and enforcement, Obama may be creating some political space needed to revamp the immigration system. The president risks alienating many conservatives if he doesn't emphasize strong border and immigration enforcement before taking action on a reform package that would create a path to legalization for an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

"If the American people don't feel like you can secure the borders," Obama said during a prime-time news conference last week, "then it's hard to strike a deal that would get people out of the shadows and on a pathway to citizenship who are already here, because the attitude of the average American is going to be, 'Well, you're just going to have hundreds of thousands of more coming in each year.' "

Administration officials, who laid out the priorities for border and immigration enforcement Tuesday, said they wanted to use technology and personnel to help secure the Southwest border and to help battle Mexican drug cartels responsible for widespread violence that threatens to spill into the U.S.

More than 7,600 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since January 2008.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday that the budget "clearly demonstrates the president's commitment to a smart and effective immigration policy."

"We are continuing to focus on tightening our borders and stronger enforcement, and this budget gives us essential new resources and tools to do just that," she said.

During his visit to Mexico last month, Obama said the U.S. would do more to stop the weapons that have found their way from the U.S. to Mexican drug cartels.

Standing next to Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Obama said: "This war is being waged with guns purchased not here, but in the United States. . . . So we have responsibilities as well. We have to do our part. We have to crack down on drug use in our cities and towns. We have to stem the southbound flow of guns and cash."

Specifically, the budget doubles Department of Homeland Security funding to nearly $47 million to combat southbound firearms and currency smuggling, and adds more than 100 Border Patrol agents and Customs and Border Protection officers.

An additional $70 million will allow the federal government to hire 349 agents and investigators to work with the Mexican government on developing intelligence to better fight the cartels.

The budget includes an 18% increase for the Department of Justice's Southwest Border Initiative, which targets the violence fueled by the drug cartels.

The budget plan also calls for a 12% fiscal boost to the Transportation Security Administration, allocating $985 million at airports, $250 million at seaports and $1.9 billion for the Coast Guard. Much of the money will be spent on new technologies and additional security personnel.

Asked about Obama's pledge to change the immigration system, an administration official said Tuesday: "Enforcement has to be part of the equation. If the goal here is to get an immigration system that functions, enforcement is central to that."

Among the immigration enforcement priorities, the budget increases funding by 30% to nearly $200 million to enable the Department of Homeland Security to hire 80 new people to identify criminal immigrants in the jails and prisons for deportation.

Obama also wants to spend $112 million, a 12% increase, to make E-Verify, an employment verification program, more reliable and to get more employers to use it.

The emphasis on border security isn't a surprising first step by the administration, said Angela Kelley, vice president for immigration policy at the Center for American Progress, a Washington-based think tank.

"It's a no-brainer that he is going to want to spend a lot of resources and build muscle at the border," she said.

But she said that Obama shouldn't stop there.

"The second chapter," she said, "better be looking to Congress and being in the driver's seat, both publicly and behind closed doors, driving a legislative package successfully."

anna.gorman@latimes.com

peter.nicholas@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 5948.story

He'll ask Congress to help curb the flow of arms to Mexico

How about some concern for what comes OUT of mexico?????

I have two words which sums up this article, as Obama has absolutely no intention of securing the border........ B.S.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 100 days in office would have been ample time to secure the border if Obie was serious about it. Instead taxpayers are supporting hundreds of thousands of additional illegal alien leeches with 5,000 to 10,000 illegally crossing the border every week while millions of Americans have lost jobs, health care, homes and pensions during that same time frame. Drug cartels have invaded our cities, towns and communities bringing violence with them. Why is there no action from this Mexican government owned and run administration to counter this? Obambi's proposed border security initiative is just a smokescreen to ram illegal alien amnesty down our throats and up our buttocks. I don't and never will trust this Chicago Mob administration as far as I can throw them.

The American People want to see aggressive enforcement of Immigration Laws so "Show Us The Enforcement" don't just tell us this is your intent.

We know the game Obama,so PUT UP or SHUT UP and quit waisting taxpayer money just so you can push Amnesty through Congress !!

"...FULFILLING A PROMISE TO THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT to battle the southbound flow of illegal weapons and setting the stage for immigration reform by first addressing enforcement, administration officials said Tuesday."

I don't trust him one bit!

Obama Proposes $27 Billion Budget for Border and Transportation Security
By Matthew Harwood
05/06/2009 -

The Los Angeles Times breaks down President Barack Obama's $27 billion request for border and transportation security in the proposed 2010 budget.

The budget, an 8 percent increase over last year, signals the Obama administration's commitment to securing the southwest border region by impeding the smuggling of U.S.-bought weapons into Mexico and illegal immigration into the United States, according to the LA Times.

To stop the flow of U.S. weaponry into Mexico, the Obama administration has doubled the Department of Homeland Security's budget to combat weapon and currency smuggling to $47 million while requesting more than 100 border patrol officers, border patrol agents, and Customs and Border Protection officers.

Another $70 million will go toward hiring 349 more U.S. analysts and investigators to help the Mexican government develop better intelligence capabilities to fight its hyper-violent drug cartels.

The Obama administration also wants to increase the funding to the Southwest Border Initiative by 18 percent, which specifically targets cartel-related violence from Mexico.

To stymie the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States, the budget calls for nearly $200 million, an increase of 18 percent, to fund the hiring of 80 new investigators at DHS to identify illegal aliens that commit crimes and deport them back to their native countries.

The Obama administration also wants to spend $112 million, a 12 percent increase, on E-Verify, an Internet-based system that allows employers to check the legal working status of potential employees. The increase in funds would go to making the system more reliable and getting more employers to use it, the LA Times reports.

This increase is part of the Obama administration's strategic shift in immigration enforcement from illegal workers to the employers who hire them.

As The New York Times reported last week, new guidelines from DHS to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, obtained by the paper, note:

“Enforcement efforts focused on employers better target the root causes of illegal immigrationâ€

Homeland Security would get boost under Obama budget

By Chris Strohm CongressDaily May 7, 2009

President Obama's fiscal 2010 budget request for the Homeland Security Department will boost funding for technology and border agents along the southwest border, as well as to find and deport criminal illegal immigrants inside the country.

It represents a shift away from some of the most controversial efforts under the Bush administration, such as building fencing and barriers along the border and going after undocumented workers who pose no criminal or national security threat.

Nearly $200 million would be allocated for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to conduct enforcement actions against criminal illegal immigrants -- a 30 percent increase over current levels.
About $70 million would be provided to hire about 350 new special agents and criminal investigators to establish a new border violence intelligence group AND IMPROVE COORDINATION EFFORTS WITH THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT.

"There are a couple of things we are going to have a prayer meeting about, but I think basically it's a good budget," said House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman David Price, D-N.C. "We are going to examine it in detail and talk about it with all of our colleagues."

The budget doubles funding to stop illicit cash and firearms from being smuggled from the United States to Mexican drug cartels. Nearly $50 million would be used to hire 44 more Border Patrol agents and 65 Customs and Border Protection officers for the effort.

Additionally, the administration is seeking $112 million -- or a 12 percent increase over current spending -- for the so-called E-Verify program, which employers can use to verify the legal status of their workers.

IMMIGRATION REFORM ADVOCATES HAILED THE NEW MEASURES Wednesday, saying they prove the administration will be tough on border security, which they say is prerequisite for Congress to pass legislation that gives about 12 million illegal immigrants in the country a path to legally work in the country.

And the budget proposes to increase funding for the Transportation Security Administration by 12 percent over current levels to $7.5 billion. About $1 billion of that would be used to buy new scanning machines at airports.

Humberto Sanchez contributed to this report.

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0509/050709cdam2.htm