The Senate Appropriations Committee approved more than $1 billion in increase to border security, keeping alive President Donald Trump’s promise of new walls and more agents along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Senate Appropriations Committee offered up a budget increase of 10 percent totaling $13.5 billion for border security.
That includes nearly $2 two billion for Trump’s request for new border barriers in parts of Texas and California where the administration has sought to either build new barriers or replace aging ones.
Under the terms of the Senate committee’s agreement, more than $11 billion will go toward staffing, including $100 million for 500 new U.S. Border Patrol agents.
Immigration and Customs enforcement also saw a windfall. The Senate bill provides continued funding for what the agency calls Mobile Criminal Alien teams that are tasked with apprehending criminals in the country illegally.
