The Obama administration on Tuesday sent Congress a $3.7 billion emergency request to address a surge in illegal child and adult migration from Central America into Texas, including funds for expanded aerial surveillance of the southern border.
The proposal includes $39.4 million for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that would support 16,526 additional flight hours above the amount requested in FY ‘15 and 16 additional crews for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for border surveillance and improved detection and interdiction of illegal activity, according to the FY ’14 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations request. The additional flight hours are aimed at expanding operations in the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley region in Texas.
The emergency request to expand CBP’s air surveillance operations runs counter to a proposed reduction in flight hours contained in the administration’s FY ’15 spending request for the Department of Homeland Security. The cut would lop $29.2 million from CBP’s Office of Air and Marine and decrease flight hours to 73,474 versus the originally planned 90,735 in FY ’14.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told Congress in March that the proposed reduction in CBP flying hours could be handled because improved technology is enabling more efficient operations (Defense Daily, March 13).
CBP’s Office of Air and Marine currently operates a fleet of more than 250 aircraft, including a small fleet of General Atomics-built Predator UAVs.
Senate appropriators in their version of the FY ’15 DHS bill agreed to the administration’s overall request for Air and Marine operations and maintenance even though they would prefer to see CBP increase its flight hours. House appropriators, on the other hand, added more than $30 million to Air and Marine’s $362.7 million request for operations and maintenance in part to allow 95,000 flight hours.
Elsewhere in the emergency funding request, the administration is seeking $364 million for CBP’s operational costs related to the surge of apprehensions of unaccompanied children and their families, and $29 million for expanding CBP’s role in the Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BESTF) program.
For Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the administration is seeking $1.1 billion, $879 million of which would be for the detention and removal of apprehended undocumented adults traveling with children, additional prosecution capacity and expansion of alternatives to detention for these individuals. The request also includes $109 million for expansion of ICE’s role in the BESTF program and expanding investigatory activities by the agency’s Homeland Security Investigations.
The overall request also includes funding for the Departments of Health and Human Services, Justice and State related to dealing with the surge of children and adults attempting to cross the U.S. southern border, and for the Department of Agriculture for projected additional wild fire suppression costs.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said in a statement on Tuesday that his committee will review the emergency spending request over the coming days and weeks and “make our own determination on how to appropriately and wisely use taxpayer resources.” He added that “it is clear that additional funding will be needed” to care for the child border crossers, enforce the law and boost border security.