Proposed budget has good news, bad news for border enforceme

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Proposed budget has good news, bad news for border enforcement


By Dana Wilkie and Otto Kreisher
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

4:45 p.m. February 6, 2006

WASHINGTON – For the third straight year, President Bush has proposed eliminating hundreds of millions of dollars in federal reimbursements to states to help with the cost of jailing illegal immigrants who commit crimes. California is the top beneficiary of the program.
On the other hand, Bush would increase the U.S. Border Patrol budget to more than $3 billion, a 29 percent increase the administration says would be enough to hire 1,500 additional border agents.

Another $35 million is proposed for the San Diego border fence, and $100 million for an assortment of new border-enforcement technologies.

These are some of the provisions in Bush's spending plan for next year that would affect California directly.

The state would get a total of $479 million in military construction projects, with about one-third of that at San Diego County installations. The state and San Diego also would benefit from a number of shipbuilding and aerospace programs included in the budget.

Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base would get the biggest local boost in construction funding, with $170.2 million in proposed work, including $55.5 million for a barracks and dining facility and a headquarters building to support the new Marine Corps Special Operations Force.

On immigration enforcement, Bush also proposed spending $410.2 million to add 6,700 detention beds that would hold illegal immigrants while they await deportation.

Under the administration's current “catch and releaseâ€

1,500 new border patrol agents is better than the 210 Bush tried to pull over the American peoples' eyes last year, but it's still under the 2,000 per year for five years promised in the intelligence bill passed in December of 2004.