WASHINGTON — The Senate agreed Thursday to add $600 million to the effort to stop the flow of illegal immigrants across the U.S. Mexican border.
The money would be used for such purposes as adding 1,500 new enforcement agents and deploying unmanned aerial drones to improve border surveillance.
The voice vote to pass the emergency spending came in the final hours before the Senate leaves for its monthlong summer break. Its sponsor, Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, said it would boost border spending 10 percent above 2010 levels.
President Barack Obama has urged Congress to come up with $600 million to reinforce border security, and, with Arizona’s attempt to crack down on undocumented immigrants bringing national focus to the issue, both Republicans and Democrats have endorsed more robust border security spending.
The main stumbling block has been how to pay for the increased spending. Republicans sought to use unspent funds from the economic stimulus act, an idea rejected by Democrats.
The Democratic plan passed Thursday would boost fees assessed on foreign-based personnel companies that take advantage of U.S. visa programs, such as the H-1B visa program for temporary skilled workers, to bring foreign workers, mainly from India, into the United States.
The House last week passed similar legislation with $701 million in emergency money for border security. It could take up the Senate bill when it interrupts its August recess next Tuesday for a one-day session to approve a Senate-passed jobs bill.
That explains what is going to stop the illegal immigrants. Now…what is going to stop the illegal drugs that are coming across the border? How about the illegal drug cartels who have no intention of becoming immigrants? I hope those ‘illegals’ are somehow part of the plan also.
Just so everyone knows that it will be impossible to completely secure the border. Unless we build a wall where we look like East Germany, there will always be leaks. The human spirit will always find a way….
So is this something else we will have to find a way to pay for?
It’s an unfunded mandate about which the Republicans won’t bitch.
We could close down the Department of Education to pay for border defense.
@Marin
The Dept of Ed could easily become a downsized agency. (and take NCLB with it.)
Wait. Am I drunk? Did you partially agree with me?
Head spinning.. Fade to black.
Sort of. Sit down. Take deep breaths. No fan of the dept of ed here.
I don’t know, folks……do you really think people could educate their kids without gub’ment intervention?
I don’t know, folks……do you really think people could educate their kids without gub’ment intervention?
Just so everyone knows that it will be impossible to completely secure the border. Unless we build a wall where we look like East Germany, there will always be leaks. The human spirit will always find a way….
And THAT’s why God, in his infinite wisdom, developed the .308
You gonna home school the little rodriguezes?
I know enough Germans who made it past that Berlin wall to stand by my statement.
The point is NOT to completely stop the inflow of illegal aliens. Its to slow it down. We also have to make it unpleasant to be in country illegally. 1500 additional agents won’t do diddly if they can’t stop them past the border. God forbid you ask anyone for “papers, please.”
Just think how much help those agents would have had if that judge hadn’t stymied the will of the people in AZ…….
How would it have helped Cargo? That’s my problem with sb 1070. What would it really do? Smoke and mirrors.
I am all in favor of a good barrier wall. I don’t expect it to be perfect though. Its easier to prevent n ew people from coming in.
Slow, i’ll admit.. That was beautiful — “developed the .308”.God Bless this country.
God Bless that my mom squated me out here and not some hell hole outside of the border. Because, at the end of the day, there are two countries. The US and the Frenchlike horde of everyone else..
Heres something interesting. Actually I expected this reaction from CBP not ICE. I knew CBP was boiling over, but this is new and it is from the union!
Immigration enforcement union took a no-confidence vote in its leadership
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents believe overwhelmingly that their department leadership has become so politicized as to compromise the effectiveness of ICE and the safety of American people. Their union has released a letter announcing its recent unanimous “vote of no confidence” in ICE agency heads, accusing them of “misleading the American public” regarding illegal immigration in order to further a pro-amnesty agenda.
In June, the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council — an AFL-CIO affiliate — and affiliated local councils cast a unanimous 259-0 vote of no confidence in ICE Director John Morton and Assistant Director Phyllis Coven. In a letter announcing the vote, the National Council criticized the directors for “misguided and reckless initiatives,” and said their leaders have “abandoned the Agency’s core mission of enforcing United States immigration laws and providing for public safety, and have instead directed their attention to campaigning for policies and programs related to amnesty.”
Janice Kephart at the Center for Immigration Studies has the letter, which includes several biting indictments of ICE failures by ICE agents. For instance:
Senior ICE leadership dedicates more time to campaigning for immigration reforms aimed at large scale amnesty legislation, than advising the American public and Federal lawmakers on the severity of the illegal immigration problem, and the need for more manpower and resources within the ICE ERO to address it. ICE ERO is currently overwhelmed by the massive criminal alien problem in the United States resulting in the large-scale release of criminals back into local communities.
Kind of puts the Arizona illegal immigration enforcement in perspective, doesn’t it?
While ICE reports internally that more than 90 percent of ICE detainees are first encountered in jails after they are arrested by local police for criminal charges, ICE senior leadership misrepresents this information publicly in order to portray ICE detainees as being non-criminal in nature to support the Administration’s position on amnesty and relaxed security at ICE detention facilities.
The majority of ICE ERO Officers are prohibited from making street arrests or enforcing United States immigration laws outside of the institutional (jail) setting. This has effectively created “amnesty through policy” for anyone illegally in the United States who has not been arrested by another agency for a criminal violation.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/immigration-enforcement-union-took-a-no-confidence-vote-in-its-leadership-99976699.html
I’ve tried to keep my “deportation via giant catapult” ideas to myself. People’s sensitivities and all.
Catapault’s are too limited in range. A trebuchet would be more effective and allow for bundling ‘like a six-pack’. You could open it up to high school physics classes as a real-world practical.
PWC, any MSM coverage on your story? That’s very very troubling to have the Director lose his ‘troops’ like that. You know how anti-union I am… I dare say that this has been probably the only time I’ve seen one be of use. 🙂
No, can’t afford home schooling or private school. But with the help of the Khan Academy (if you don’t know it, you should), I bet I can help my kids more than my parents could help me, though I appreciate that they tried.
Can someone tell me why they believe that shooting immigrants as they come over the border illegally is a just punishment for the “crime”. Why is that particular act so heinous as to deserve death for attempting it? Just trying to figure out why some people think that is a great tact and is what we should be doing and why I didn’t think it was such a big deal and married a guy that came over the border unchecked. How can views on the “crime” be so disparate?
@TWINAD
Don’t know! Funny ole world, huh?
I have heard more and more about shooting people coming across the border, especially today. Every person who has said it has been male. Too much testosterone?
There is a thread on this issue posted now. Does it not concern you that the only news agency supposedly covering this story is the examiner? (and some blogs)
I also don’t see where the border patrol fits in. There is always the notion that if people don’t like their jobs they can quit…not to sound like Governor Christie of NJ.
It’s just how one properly repels an invading force.
Better look to see who is invading. I would be saving my ammo if I were you.
@Moon-howler
I usually keep several thousand rounds handy.
Do you have to rotate it like storing food for a rainy day?