GovernmentExecutive.com

The Homeland Security Department would see its funding increase slightly in fiscal 2007 under President Bush's budget, which includes boosts for domestic nuclear detection efforts and for a controversial guest worker program.

The budget, unveiled Monday, seeks $35.6 billion for DHS. This represents an increase of $2.3 billion over what was requested for 2006.

Significantly, Bush included $536 million for the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office and $247 million for a temporary worker program for migrants to legally enter the country and work.

Funding for the nuclear detection office would increase by 70 percent over current levels if Congress enacts Bush's request.

Congress has been divided over the administration's plan for a guest worker program. The House passed a border security bill last December without one. Support for the program is stronger in the Senate, which is expected to pass its version of the legislation this year.

The budget indicates that immigration reform and improved border security will be top priorities for the administration.

Specifically, Bush requested about $6.5 billion for Customs and Border Protection and $4.4 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement - - the two agencies primarily responsible for border security. At those levels, ICE's budget would increase by 22 percent and CBP's by 12 percent, over fiscal 2006 funding enacted by Congress.

The administration sought more than $3 billion for the Border Patrol, including funds to hire 1,500 additional agents. The request also includes funds to increase the number of beds at detention centers by 6,000 to more than 27,000.

"The administration's plan is to catch all migrants attempting to enter the country illegally, decrease crime rates along the border, allow employers to hire legal foreign workers when no American is willing to take the job, and restore public confidence in the federal government's ability to enforce immigration laws," the budget states.

To make it easier for employers to verify the employment eligibility of their workers, Bush requested $111 million to expand an employment eligibility verification system known as the Basic Pilot Program.

The budget also emphasizes the department's intention to put strings on grants for state and local governments. The department would require every region that gets Urban Area Security Initiative grants to develop and implement a plan for emergency incident-level interoperability.

The budget seeks $838 million for UASI grants and $600 million for a new Targeted Infrastructure Protection grant program. The administration proposed the TIP program last year, but Congress rejected it.

President Bush budgeted a total of $838 million for other state-based grants, including $633 million for homeland security grants, $170 million for emergency management performance grants and $35 million for the Citizen Corps.

COMMENTS

• Enough about ICE! I spent many years at a major East Coast airport, working with USCS Special Agents and INS officers. We did our respective jobs, mostly protected our own turf, and went home to our families (eventually) at night. Of course DHS is nonsense, of course it's wrong, but ICE is only part of the problem. Now, a young man/woman who wants to be uniformed officer has to learn the elements of four jobs for the same pay! What will we, the taxpayers get? Simple, a poorly-trained officer who cannot master the intricacies of each job for the same money! Wave the magic wand, disband DHS, or simply turn back the clock, 'cause the present time is bogus. GovExec.com reader Posted March 15, 2006 8:37 PM
• Didn't you know? ICE was formed to be the new Immigration Enforcement Agency. If you want to know why ICE was formed, read the last pages of the OIG report re: merger CBP/ICE. It confirms what most of us suspected. It doesn't come out and actually say it, but it is transparently clear that the FBI was behind this maneuver. It states that there was a panel of heads of agencies that were to transfer into DHS to discuss the pros/cons of this move. They discussed pro/cons of splitting up USCS/INS and decided against it. (Everything they predicted if a split was made has occurred.) For more than 10 years, Congress has discussed the concept of one face at the border by USCS absorbing the INS and Agriculture Inspectors. Lawmakers also wanted the INS 1811s to be a stand alone agency. Right up until it was announced in the news otherwise, USCS was to transfer into DHS as a whole entity and absorb the INS and Agriculture Inspectors. INS 1811s were to be a stand alone agency. But, according to the OIG report other federal agencies (read FBI) objected to the USCS scenario as it would make them too large an agency with too much congressional influence. The OIG report could not determine who decided to turn the tables on us. (A newspaper article indicates it was the "gang of 5.") Having solely INS 1811s (approx 2,000 employees) to create an agency (ICE) did not make them strong enough for a voice in Congress, so it was decided to throw FPS into the mix. Still not enough employees, so (we shoulda ducked) USCS 1811s were thrown into the mix. This had the double purpose of beefing up INS 1811s and crippling USCS voice in Congress. It came as a total surprise to our commissioner and others on the panel. They learned of this split the night before it hit the news. So there you have it. And, by the way, have you noticed the bill to make Air & Marine its own agency? I'm happy for them but another wrenching away the tools that enable us to perform our sworn duties when -- and there will be a when -- another 9/11 occurs. GovExec.com reader Posted February 25, 2006 9:02 AM
• Congress did not abolish the U.S. Customs Service. The legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security called for Customs to come over intact, like the Secret Service and the Coast Guard. The decision to merge Customs and INS into ICE and CBP came from some bureaucratic nitwits in the White House, not from Congress. That being said, you are obviously very thin-skinned, and resentful of those of us from the former Customs Service. If you have to ask what benefit Customs provided, you obviously didn't study American history. As far as us being "superior," those are your words, not ours. Most of the responses posted here and in other forums by myself and other legacy Customs agents point out the idiocy of the merger, from a practical and case point of view. I'm sorry if you take that as an attack on you and other former INS agents, because that's not what we're about. Although I can't speak for everyone, most of us know that immigration work is frustrating, hard, thankless and unappreciated, which is why we chose not to join INS. Just because we are pointing out the fallacy of ICE, doesn't mean that we don't appreciate what you do. At the same time, don't knock us for what we do, because it is also important to this nation. If ICE is in fact nothing more than an "INS force multiplier," as you say, that is truly a tragedy for this country, because it means that we are giving up enforcing other laws that Customs traditionally investigated. Can't you see the logic in that? Unfortunately, Customs and INS were both sacrificed on the altar of 9/11, to the great delight of the FBI, which can now blame ICE for the next terrorist attacks. At least we now have one thing in common, namely, belonging to an agency that was set up to take the fall for the next visit from Al Qaeda. GovExec.com reader Posted February 21, 2006 2:18 PM