Should we spend 3.7B to assist the illegals at the Mexican border or use that money to secure the border?

Sounds like we can definitely do without the $1.8B. It doesn't take much to drop them back off on the other side.

Well stated Maj Petrarca! Also, what about the health risk that illegal immigrants pose to the rest of the population. They (especially the children) are crossing the borders without having vaccinations for smallpox, measles, mumps, rubella, and pertussis (whooping cough). I am not sure if they are receiving these immunizations at the holding areas (such as San Antonio) prior to deportation, but it's a huge health risk. Especially with tuberculosis which is highly communicable in enclosed areas where many people live.

I was doing research to see the details of the $3.7B request (actually ... it's only $3.1B since OMB lumped $615M for wildfire suppression into the request) and what it was for (difficult to do when each side lumps it into a political statement). I finally decided to track down the original OMB request and see what was detailed in there. The breakdown from my looking through it is at the bottom of this.

My observations/questions:

- Contrary to claims, very little goes to improving security of the border ($68M is all I found to improve ... The $364M to the DHS to pay for the increase in costs they've had from the surge though is for reimbursement, not improvement)
- I wonder who gets to make the decision about shuffling money around per the general provisions? I know that you want to have operational flexibility, but it could also be looked at as potential bait and switch funding as well.

I do find it ironic that back in 2012, the administration was quite vocal about the southwest border being secure. If that's the case, how did this happen? Must be because the border patrol folks really screwed-up and allowed the border to fall into such bad shape in less than two years.

Breakdown:
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I was going to use a neutral word when talking about people that crosses the border outside of the approved legal framework, but just decided to drop it all together (I'm TRYING to stay neutral in my observations). The administration refers to anyone in that category
with terms such as undocumented and such and those that believe they are criminal refer to them as illegal ... so feel free to add whatever you want to make sense (illegal alien, undocumented immigrant, misunderstood refugee, etc.)

You can get the complete request at http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/budget_amendments/emergency-supplemental-request-to-congress-07082014.pdf

$1.8B to HHS for additional capacity for the administration of care, housing, etc.

$1.1B to ICE ...
..$879M for the detention, prosecution, and removal
..$116M for transportation costs from increased apprehensions
..$109M for expanded enforcement efforts

$432M to Customs and Border Protection
..$364M for increased operational costs
..$ 29M for the expansion of the Border Enforcement Security TF
..$ 39M for increased air surveillance capabilities (Rio Grande Valley)

$64M to DOJ
..$ 45.4M for more immigration judge teams
..$ 2.5M for expansion of legal orientation program
..$ 15M for direct legal representation of children
..$ 1.1M for additional attorneys to support other fed agencies

$300M to DOS
..$295M for repatriation and reintegration for public diplomacy and information programs
..$ 5M for public diplomacy and information programs

Three general provisions as well:
- The authority to transfer 30% between appropriations accounts with notification
- The authority to transfer up to $250M for the humanitarian situation at the border (I assume 'if needed')
- Proposed adjustment to the discretionary spending limits for wildfire ops

MAJ (Join to see) Problem is, the majority are not from Mexico. They coming from countries further down Latin America such as Guatemala, El Salvador, etc. There is are issues with us deporting foreign nationals to a third foreign country that does not want them either.

So, if we spend 3.7B now on these children/illegal immigrants, is that the end? Will they conveniently return to their country and no longer be our responsibility? Or does this become bigger, with more people coming in and more money being committed to it? Do we want to stop it or is it just assumed we'll spend unlimited money on them?

I'm assuming $3.7B will go towards creating infrastructure to deal with the issue - so yes, I agree it will be an ongoing issue, but I think having infrastructure in place to deal with in in the future will help.

CPT Dave Shephard I can respect your opinion, but I have to disagree. With the federal govt (no matter which party is in charge) I don't assume anything! And if we have the funds for this, then I can think over several other areas the fed govt could spend a similar amount on that would actually assist Americans (since we are taking of using American tax dollars). I prefer my money to be spent at home BEFORE we spend it on foreigners.