DHS Budget Proposal Emphasizes

Border, Transportation Security

The Obama Administration’s FY 2010 Homeland Security Budget spends big on enforcement, no doubt in part to assuage critics of comprehensive immigration reform demanding border security before a legislative deal on illegal immigrants already in the US. Of the $42.7 billion total, $24.6 billion goes to Customs and Border Protection and the Transportation Security Administration, an 8% increase over FY 2009. The budget also proposes $10 million to establish a new Immigrant Integration program within USCIS which will develop an online welcome program for immigrants; provide grants to community-based organizations for citizenship preparation programs; facilitate online English language learning; promote volunteerism; and promote citizenship “with integration messages”.

The budget also provides $75 million for English literacy and civics educational programs, an increase of 10% over 2009. The budget spends $730 million in Language Acquisition State Grants designed to teach English to immigrant children. It also spends $850 million to settle new refugees, an increase of 17% over 2009.

The budget proposal also includes $74 million to improve the system of detaining and removing illegal immigrants, $200 million to hire 80 enforcement personnel to target criminal aliens, and $84 million to hire 28 new “immigration judge teams”.

Lastly, the budget requests $112 million for E-Verify to support a monitoring and compliance office to oversee use of the system, improve training and outreach, and make system technical improvements.

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