Border Protection Shortchanged in FY 2023 Budget

Border protection is getting shortchanged in the budget for fiscal year 2023 according to a new report.

Our friends over at the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) posted a thorough breakdown of the 2023 FY federal budget and how that money is being spent on immigration enforcement.

The FAIR report revealed that the 2023 FY budget for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) saw a $893.8 million dollar increase from 2022, to total $15.74 billion dollars.

However, only a small portion of that money will go to directly combatting illegal immigration.

“The budget calls for $100 million for “border technology” – window dressing that will prevent no one from illegally crossing the border. A further $120.2 million calls for 250 additional Customs officers, 500 technicians, and 500 mission support staff.

No money will go towards completing construction of the southern border wall. In fact, the budget allows CBP to use up to $100 million of the prior year’s border barrier construction funding for uses other than constructing the wall.”

The budget for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) also increased from 2022 by $138.1 million, to $8.4 billion.\

Once again, it’s the details of where that money is being spent that matters.

“However, appropriators reduced funding for Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) which is the component of ICE that handles interior immigration enforcement. The budget proposal reduces ERO’s funding by $252.4 million dollars.

This is an outrageous proposition in light of the Biden administration’s release of hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens into the interior of the United States. Since the start of Biden’s presidency, Border Patrol apprehended over 2 million illegal aliens at the Southwest border. It is irresponsible to reduce ERO’s budget at a time of record illegal immigration.”

As it stands, the Biden administration’s policies have already resulted in a one million person increase in the number of illegal aliens in the country.

We’re also in the midst of a record breaking border crisis with every month worse than the one preceding it in terms of illegal border crossings.

You’d think this would result in more resources being dedicated to combating this issue.

While on paper that’s the case, as the FAIR report points out, it’s about exactly what that money is directed towards.

It’s a complete waste to give money to these agencies but not spend it on border enforcement, illegal immigration removals, and deterrent measures like better walls.

There’s a lot of other great information in that report and we encourage you to head over to FAIR and read it in full.

Once again it shows just how unserious the current administration is when it comes to combating the crisis on our border.