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The U.S.-Mexico border fence in Tijuana, Mexico / Getty Images

BY: Adam Kredo May 23, 2017 3:35 pm

The Trump administration is seeking to pump $44.1 billion into the Department of Homeland Security in a bid to increase the number of federal agents patrolling America's porous Southern border, according to a preview of the agency's 2018 budget request, which focuses on investments in advanced technology and human personnel.

President Donald Trump's budget request for DHS "makes significant, critical investments in people, technology, and infrastructure for border security and enforcement of immigration laws," according to an overview of the security department's fiscal year 2018 budget request.

The investment represents a multi-billion dollar increase above the Obama administration's final budget and puts a focus on securing America's southern border, which experienced some of the highest levels of illegal immigration in history under Obama.

Trump administration officials have said that the president's first budget reflects his commitment to border security and reversing Obama-era policies that loosened restrictions on immigration and contributed to an influx of illegal aliens at the U.S. southern border.

Senior DHS officials described the budget request as an "important downpayment on the administration's policies," particularly those aimed at sealing gaps across the souther border, where illegal immigration continues to take place largely unchecked.

DHS is seeking money for "major vessel and aircraft recapitalization for the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) to address ongoing maritime threats, including illegal alien and drug trafficking, before reaching our Nation's shores," according to the proposal.

Trump is also seeking $1.6 billion to construct 32 miles of new border wall, as well as "miles of levee wall along the Rio Grande Valley, and 14 miles of new border wall system that will replace existing secondary fence in the San Diego sector, where apprehensions are the highest along the Southwest Border, and where a border wall system will deny access to drug and alien smuggling organizations," according to the proposal.

A major focus is being placed on training and hiring more federal authorities to patrol the southern border.

The administration is seeking to hire an additional 1,000 immigration enforcement officers and 500 Customs and Border Patrol agents (CBP), as is required under Trump's executive orders on immigration enforcement. The monetary request is about $30 million more than was allocated in 2017 by the Obama administration.

Another $100 million will be used to boost some 20,258 border patrol employees, including the 500 new CBP agents, according to the proposal.

"These new personnel will improve the integrity of the immigration system by adding capacity to interdict those aliens attempting to cross the border illegally," DHS said in its budget request.

An additional $185.9 will be spent to expand U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities, per requirements in the president's executive orders on immigration.

This will include the hiring of 850 new immigration officers, 150 criminal investigators, and 805 law enforcement staff, according to the proposal. The administration also is seeking to hire 125 new legal advisers to help the federal government prosecute and deport illegal immigrants.

To bolster the range of new hires, the administration is requesting nearly $976 million for "high-priority tactical infrastructure and border security technology improvements to provide a layered defense at the border," according to the proposal, which outlines new investments in surveillance technology and other equipment to help border agents detect and interdict illegals.

DHS is seeking $971 million to boost its cyber security efforts, which help guard critical U.S. infrastructure. A portion of these funds, around $279 million, would be used to invest in computer hardware and software to secure federal networks.

At the nation's airports, the Trump administration is seeking $3.1 million to support more than 43,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers.

"Increased passenger volume and evolving threats to aviation security require an increase to TSA's frontline workforce at security checkpoints nationwide," DHS maintains in its budget request.

The administration also is seeking to boost the Secret Service's force size, requesting $1.3 billion to hire 436 new employees, bringing the total force size to 7,150.

See more here:
Trump Admin Seeks Huge Investment to Choke Off Illegal Immigration - Washington Free Beacon

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested over 41,000 illegal immigrants between January 22 and April 29, the 100 days following President Donald Trumps executive order on stricter illegal-immigration enforcement. In comparison to the same period in 2016 under the Obama administration, there was a 37.6 percent increase in arrests.

According to the ICE report released last week, nearly 75 percent of those arrested under the Trump administration were convicted criminals; more than 2,700 of them were convicted of violent crimes such as rape, homicide, kidnapping, and assault.

ICE agents and officers have been given clear direction to focus on threats to public safety and national security, said ICE acting director Thomas Homan, which has resulted in a substantial increase in the arrest of convicted criminal aliens.

However, Homan added, when we encounter others who are in the country unlawfully, we will execute our sworn duty and enforce the law.

Indeed, ICE officers did not shy away from increasing the number of arrests involving illegal immigrants without criminal records. There were 10,845 illegal immigrants without criminal records arrested between January 22 and April 29 under the Trump administration, a stark contrast to the 4,242 arrested under the Obama administration. Which is to say that the number of illegal immigrants arrested who had no criminal record soared 156 percent in just one year.

The ICE report comes one week after the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency announced that the number of illegal immigrants apprehended at the southwest boarder had decreased significantly under the Trump administration. People in Central America are waiting and watching what happens rather than taking the long journey, Department of Homeland Security spokesman David Lapan explained, adding, When you get here, its likely you will be caught and returned to your country.

The Trump administration seems to be fulling its promise: to address the issue of illegal immigration, both at the border and within our cities.

The rest is here:
In 100 Days, ICE Officers Arrest over 41000 Illegal Immigrants - National Review

President Trump will seek to tighten restrictions on some tax credits to prevent them from being claimed by illegal immigrants, a measure that the administration says is necessary to respect taxpayers and balance the budget.

Trump's fiscal 2018 budget, set to be released Tuesday, will set higher eligibility standards for the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said Monday. According to the administration, the measures will save $40 billion over 10 years.

"How do I go to somebody who pays their taxes, and say, Look, I want you to give this earned income tax credit to somebody who's working here illegally'? That's not defensible," Mulvaney told reporters. "And it's a reasonable accommodation to simply ask them for Social Security numbers."

The earned income tax credit is a refundable tax credit, which means that if a recipient has no income tax liability, the government sends the person a check. Part of the child tax credit is also refundable.

Both programs have high improper payment amounts. About a quarter of payments were made improperly in 2016, according to the Treasury inspector general for tax, or about $17 billion for the earned income tax credit and $7 billion for the child tax credit.

Those wrongful payments do not necessarily represent fraud. For the most part, they reflect families getting confused by the eligibility rules.

Under current law, workers must provide a Social Security number to receive the earned income tax credit. To claim the refundable portion of the child tax credit, though, only an individual taxpayer identification number is necessary, which the IRS issues to workers who are not authorized to work but need it for tax purposes.

The administration did not say how eligibility would be tightened other than to state that the benefits would be limited to people who are authorized to work in the country.

Some anti-illegal immigration groups have said that allowing workers to claim credits without providing a Social Security number amounts to paying illegal immigrants to stay in the country. Conservative lawmakers also have favored tightening the restrictions as a matter of fiscal conservatism.

Liberal groups, though, argue that illegal immigrants pay taxes, such as payroll taxes for Social Security, for which they won't get benefits. More generally, the low-income tax credits generally benefit needy families, even if they technically did not qualify for the benefits they received.

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Trump calls to cut off tax breaks for illegal immigrants - Washington Examiner

ELECTION 2018: Illegal Immigration Becoming Major Issues in Baltimore County WCBM Over the next few weeks, Baltimore County will be Maryland's ground zero in the controversy over President Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. The three Republicans on the County Council, Todd Crandell, David Marks and Wade Kach, want the ...

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ELECTION 2018: Illegal Immigration Becoming Major Issues in Baltimore County - WCBM

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In a 60 Minutes special report,more than 800 churches are acting as mini-sanctuary jurisdictions to hide illegal immigrants from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

ICE has a long-standing policy in which agents do not detain illegal immigrants at churches, making the facilities an ideal spot to avoid deportation orders.

In a Buffalo, New York, church profiled, parish staff confirmed that they recently harbored an illegal alien family of four from Honduras. Since January, the church officials said it protected more than 40 migrants.

Rev. Robin Hynicka of Philadelphias Arch Street Methodist Church explained how he believes enforcing federal immigration laws are oppressive to illegal immigrants who remain in the U.S.

Its injustice and oppression, all of which is evil, Hynicka said. Yeah, when a human beings human rights are denied, when they cant stay with their family, when they cant work, when they cant participate in the community in which they have deep roots, all of those apply.

In one specific case, Hynickas church has been harboring Javier Flores Garcia, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who came to the U.S. in 1997. Garcia was arrested and convicted for drunk driving, and despite an immigration judge ordering him be deported, he remains hiding out in Arch Street Methodist Church.

ICEs Deputy Director Daniel Ragsdale did not back down to his agencys responsibility to enforce federal immigration law and protect Americans, despite questioning from 60 Minutes Scott Pelley.

Scott Pelley: How much concern do you have about separating families in deportations?

Daniel Ragsdale: As a human being, I know it is traumatic for folks. But I will also say that the Rule of Law is something that America is built on. But this seems to be the one area where the narrative about separating families, you know, sort of gets a little bit ratcheted up.

Scott Pelley: Well, you can understand why.

Daniel Ragsdale: Well, I can. But I would suggest that every person who has, you know, come to the United States illegally, just like if I went somewhere and, you know, resided in violation of law, I could expect at some point that sovereign country to want to remove me.

Last month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent a letter to 10 sanctuary cities, demanding they stop obstructing federal immigration agents from being able to deport criminal illegal immigrants. Sessions said that if sanctuary cities do not eventually comply with federal law, they could see a loss in federal grant money.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at@JxhnBinder.

Originally posted here:
CBS: 800 Churches Nationwide Harbor Illegal Immigrants - Breitbart News