Posted on 01/25/2005 8:30:24 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) plans to ask Congress to spend more to crack down on undocumented workers and arrest and deport illegal immigrants. But he wants to fund only a fraction of the new Border Patrol agents called for in a bill he signed last year.
Bush's budget plan will call for spending $23 million, nearly five times the current level, on work site investigations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a government official familiar with the spending plan told The Associated Press on Tuesday. The money would be used to conduct audits on employers, investigate violations and prepare cases.
The administration also wants to increase spending for detentions and deportations of immigrants to $1.2 billion, 18 percent more than in fiscal year 2005, the official said. In addition to paying for more staff, the money would go to apprehending fugitives and providing alternatives to detention for low-risk illegal immigrants awaiting deportation.
Homeland Security Department spokesman Dennis Murphy declined to comment on the numbers because the 2006 budget has not been released. He warned figures can change up until it is actually sent to Congress.
Bush plans to ask lawmakers to increase the Border Patrol by 210 agents. The intelligence overhaul law he signed last year authorizes, but does not pay for, the department to hire 2,000 agents a year for five years.
That would nearly double the number of agents guarding U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada to almost 21,000 and would be the largest buildup of border guards in the nation's history.
Outgoing Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson, who oversees transportation and border security, has said paying for the 2,000 agents would require a substantial investment from Congress.
"It appears, perhaps, the administration is looking a bit more comprehensively on immigration enforcement. For too long we have focused only on the border, and many people have indeed been calling for renewed attention to the hiring of undocumented workers because that is the primary draw," said Deborah Meyers, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank that tends to favor immigration.
Meyers said Bush's proposals on Border Patrol agents are a recognition of the difficulty the government would face recruiting and training such a high number of agents.
Bush also has proposed a temporary worker program open to immigrants illegally in the country and foreigners abroad.
Bush is expected to submit his budget early next month. Congress is not obligated to implement the president's budget but can use it as a guide.
___
On the Net:
Immigration and Customs Enforcement: http://www.ice.gov/
Customs and Border Protection: http://www.cbp.gov
It might cost a little more for the moat full of toxic waste, the minefield, and the automatic machineguns :)
More on pesky tunneling:
Claim of terror plot unraveling; FBI says woman already held The caller said that "nuclear oxide" or "nuclear fiber" was going to be smuggled to the group through a tunnel system in Mexico into Southern California, officials said.
READ: not on the FBI's Most Wanted (e.g., Serial Killer) List.
(*Just can't let this one go: Paying for more staff... besides the 210 additional BP agents (for both N & S borders.) Staff = ??? Case preparers... or... lawyers. :::snort::: )
Yup, it stuns my beeber, too.
Yes, some of these would crop up. With a wall in place though, it would limit the tunnel options to cities since fleer tech could see people congregating near walls at night to start a tunnel.
For all the weeknesses of a wall, I still see them as a major plus. So does Israel.
Do you know... are the tunnels mainly near cities? I was wondering because so much that I have read seems to have them connected to storm or drainage systems. Then, I thought that the really huge tunnel find was in the middle of the desert... like maybe devil's highway (or whatever the devil name is.) Tunnels are my biggest problem with the wall.
For them. As for the tunnels, I could be wrong, but I would think foot traffic would be a tip off in the middle of the desert.
In the city, you just burrow down beneath a floor and head north when you get down far enough. Nobody can see you.
The AZ/ Mexico border is chock full of trails and roads, like these here:
(Photos at www.desertinvasion.us/)
Yeah right. Hope someone is keeping an eye on the other hand.
The one arrived here illegally and also has a job that they obtained illegally. The other is here illegally but doesn't have a job.
I wonder what this means.
Amnesty?
One more thing about a high cement wall, it's kindof tough for the Mexican police or military to shoot through it like they have been over the border.
that's a good point!
At the rate they are invading, by the time the wall gets built how many more will be here? (Not to mention they are flying in now... or at least we are finding out they are flying in now. AND what... slap on the wrist.)
WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) plans to ask Congress to spend more to crack down on undocumented workers and arrest and deport illegal immigrants. But he wants to fund only a fraction of the new Border Patrol agents called for in a bill he signed last year.
Here we go again, the old bait and switch routine.
Bush must think the American people are too stupid to figure out what is going on, and are too lazy to do anything about it.
Oh, wait a minute - they are.
Never mind. Go back to sleep.
Silly.
The Powers That Be aren't going to crack down on illegals; they are going to make the illegals legal, and dare you to do anything about it.
But go on blaming "xenophobes" so you can feel good about yourself.
What do you two have in common?
You mean, apart from them both being lying politicians?
-Start with the areas that are the worst.
Precast concrete walls can be put up pretty darn fast.
All that needs to be poured on site are the footings.
It'll happen:
http://www.concretefence.com/pages/homelandsecurity.htm
check out this diagram of the Israeli Wall:
http://images5.theimagehosting.com/IsraelWall.gif
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