House Republicans are seeking tens of billions of dollars to carry out the Trump administration’s border security and immigration enforcement priorities, according to newly released funding requests.
Funding plans released by the House Judiciary Committee and House Homeland Security Committees on Monday reveal the GOP’s plans to make President Donald Trump’s campaign promises on immigration a reality. The funding is part of the budget reconciliation package that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) wants to pass through Congress by Memorial Day, May 26.
Both proposals would introduce and fund brand new concepts for the federal government to oversee immigration levels, including 900 miles of buoy wall in the Rio Grande and a first-ever application fee of a minimum of $1,000 for asylum-seekers, and a $1,000 fee for parolees.
The House Homeland Security Committee seeks roughly $60 billion to tackle border security. It justified its request by citing measures to help maintain control of the U.S.-Mexico border.
“The success at our borders will be short-lived if we don’t provide the necessary resources to fund President Trump’s agenda and help [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] fulfill its border-security mission in the years to come,” said House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-TN). “This will require completing the strategic border-wall system between ports of entry; more technology to close exploitable gaps and enhance drug interdictions; additional frontline personnel; and resources for the states that work to secure the border.”
The committees have jurisdiction over different agencies within the Department of Homeland Security. The Homeland Security Committee drafted CBP’s funding, while the Judiciary Committee proposed spending for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Republicans want to spend $46.5 billion on the border barrier system, beyond funding just a wall. It would include money for the fence, access roads along the fence, lighting, surveillance cameras, and cutting-edge technology.
The committee pitched building 701 miles of primary wall, or fencing, as the southernmost barrier, and 629 miles of secondary fencing that would run parallel to the primary wall. The federal government would also build 141 miles of vehicle and pedestrian barriers.
The proposed funding would also cover 900 miles of river barriers or buoys, such as those that Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) placed in the Rio Grande in mid-2023. The Washington Examiner reported in April that the Trump administration planned to expand the buoys in Texas.
CBP facilities where illegal immigrants are temporarily detained would receive a $5 billion upgrade, as well as $4.1 billion for additional CBP personnel and $2 billion for recruiting and retaining employees.
“Many facilities are in remote environments, with deteriorating structures, limited space, outdated technology, and insufficient capacity to support current staffing levels, operational tempo, or evolving security challenges,” the House Homeland Security Committee wrote in a fact sheet ahead of the mark-up Tuesday.
FIVE TAKEAWAYS FROM WHITE HOUSE ON THE BORDER AND IMMIGRATION AT 100-DAY MARK
Another $1 billion would go to massive, nonintrusive machines to scan vehicles and cargo at ports of entry. CBP would receive $3.2 billion for its drone program and for improving border surveillance technology.
The judiciary’s proposal would fund at least one million illegal immigrant removals, 10,000 new ICE employees, and detention space to house 100,000 people at a time, doubling the current detention space.
