Border Security bill includes $192 million for new CBP holding center in El Paso
The Senate has passed a bipartisan border security plan that would finance 55 additional miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The 83-16 vote advances the measure to the House for a vote Thursday night. The bill would then go to Trump for his signature in time to avert another partial government shutdown this weekend.
The bill would fund the departments of State, Agriculture, and Interior – but the biggest sticking point and center of the negotiations – was Homeland Security.
The current bill was reached by a bipartisan negotiation group ironing out details to fund the department of Homeland Security as the president demands his border wall.
The bill includes $1.37 billion for new border fencing instead of the nearly $6 billion President Trump was asking for. All of the new barriers will be in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings by far, the Associated Press reports. The deal includes $1.03 billion for 44 miles on normal soil and 11 miles on levees.
The pact also provides $192 million for a new Customs and Border Protection holding center in El Paso, Texas.
Legislators hope the increase in funding will prevents cases like that of 7-year-old Jakelin Caal, who died in immigration custody. Included in the funding for the El Paso sector are millions for medical professionals, supplies such as food, infant formula and diapers, and better transportation between holding facilities.
“There’s money in here to help with humanitarian assistance, so Border Patrol doesn’t have the resources to make sure that people that are in their custody are healthy, or if they need additional healthcare, you have some funds for that to make sure that Border patrol is not put in that position,” said Rep. Will Hurd (R TX-23) who represents the longest stretch of southwestern border.
That funding would also help Central American countries with extended aid money.
“This has additional funds for state department and USAID to work with our partner governments in the northern triangle: El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, to address those root causes causing illegal immigration to come up here,” Hurd said.
Border security is also extended on the technology side, with better tools for the Border Patrol to monitor vast expanses of empty desert.
“There’s programs in there to lay fiber optic cables along the border in order to use that kind of technology, the innovative tower initiative, which I call the “Smart Wall” Hurd said.
