Bill calls for billions of dollars to detain illegal immigrants; record amounts to be spent to strengthen border security; 'non-intrusive' techniques include focus on detecting fentanyl
(NewsNation) — A bill funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the next fiscal year would allocate hundreds of millions of dollars for new technology, additional border wall construction, hiring new Border Patrol agents and more.
But most of the funds the Department of Homeland Security is seeking would be used to capture, detain, and deport people who enter the United States illegally.
The Homeland Security spending bill currently before the House Appropriations Committee would allocate more than $4 billion for “detention activities,” the construction and operation of facilities to hold illegal immigrants.
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Another $137 million would go to “operations to deport people” and $822 million to pay for the planes and buses needed to transport people from the United States.
The bill also would spend a record $300 million on new technology to secure our border.
New technologies include autonomous security towers to monitor remote locations, tactical balloons for aerial surveillance, tunnel detectors to identify underground smuggling routes, and “counter-drone” drones to deal with drones flying in U.S. airspace.
The bill also includes $305 million to install “non-intrusive” screening technology, such as metal detectors at airports.
But border technology goes much deeper. At border crossings, large-scale X-ray and gamma-ray imaging systems will be used to search for weapons, nuclear and radiological threats, and narcotics. Bills this year also push for the introduction of devices that can sniff out fentanyl.
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In addition to technology spending, the bill also calls for $600 million to build additional border wall equipment and to retain and recruit Border Patrol agents, who currently have about 3,000 vacant positions.
According to Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), attrition is a major ongoing issue for the Border Patrol. “People leave because it's hard, and it's a very hard job, especially in rural areas,” Cuellar said.
An estimated 1.3 million people are in the U.S. illegally, and that number is sure to rise following the Biden administration's new executive order on asylum claims.
