Trump Said to be Readying Requests for Dramatic Increases in Immigration Enforcement and Border Security Spending in Forthcoming FY '18 Budget Blueprint
Tuesday. March 14, 2017
 | President Trump is expected this week to submit his fiscal year 2018 budget “blueprint” to Congress. While the details of what will be in the document were not known at the time of this writing, early indications are that, from an immigration and refugee perspective, it likely will contain proposals to make deep cuts in spending for the Department of State’s humanitarian assistance programs, including deep cuts in refugee programs, and dramatic increases in spending for the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement and border security functions. |
The Administration has set Thursday, March 16, 2017, as the date on which it will submit its budget blueprint to Congress. However, White House Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney has indicated that the submission could actually come a day earlier, on Wednesday, March 15th.
Administration officials have said that the blueprint that will be delivered to Congress will not contain detailed estimates for revenue or address entitlement spending. Rather, officials say, it will provide a blueprint for where the Administration wants to do with defense and non-defense discretionary spending.
Administration officials have said that the blueprint that will be delivered to Congress will not contain detailed estimates for revenue or address entitlement spending. Rather, officials say, it will provide a blueprint for where the Administration wants to do with defense and non-defense discretionary spending.
Current law requires the President to submit his or her budget to Congress on the first Monday in February, which this year fell on February 6, 2017. However, it has become common over the last three decades for new Administrations to miss that deadline. Normally, during the first year of a new Administration, the President submits a budget outline in March, followed in late April or early May with a more complete budget submission.
Each year, the submission of the President's budget proposal marks the beginning of the coming fiscal year’s budget and appropriations cycle. Immigration and refugee insiders and policymakers of all political stripes usually carefully review and inspect the budget once the President submits it in order to get a sense of where he (and they) will draw lines both on spending and policy matters.
Foreshadowed Cuts and Increases. While the details of what the President will propose this week were not known, the President and his staff have thrown a lot of hints. Indeed, the Administration has signaled that it intends to propose a $54 BILLION increase in defense spending in fiscal year 2018 relative to fiscal year 2017, and that it will propose offsetting the increased defense expenditures by proposing $54 BILLION in cuts to nondefense discretionary spending.
This would translate into $603 BILLION in spending for defense and $462 BILLION for nondefense discretionary spending.
Many of the proposed cuts that the President’s staff contemplate being included in the budget blueprint have nothing to do with immigrants for refugees. For instance, it is believed that the Administration’s budget blueprint will propose cutting funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development by $6 BILLION, or 14 percent; the Department of Commerce by 18 percent, and staffing for the Environmental Protection Agency by about 20 percent.
From an immigration- and refugee perspective, the Administration has foreshadowed the following:
Each year, the submission of the President's budget proposal marks the beginning of the coming fiscal year’s budget and appropriations cycle. Immigration and refugee insiders and policymakers of all political stripes usually carefully review and inspect the budget once the President submits it in order to get a sense of where he (and they) will draw lines both on spending and policy matters.
Foreshadowed Cuts and Increases. While the details of what the President will propose this week were not known, the President and his staff have thrown a lot of hints. Indeed, the Administration has signaled that it intends to propose a $54 BILLION increase in defense spending in fiscal year 2018 relative to fiscal year 2017, and that it will propose offsetting the increased defense expenditures by proposing $54 BILLION in cuts to nondefense discretionary spending.
This would translate into $603 BILLION in spending for defense and $462 BILLION for nondefense discretionary spending.
Many of the proposed cuts that the President’s staff contemplate being included in the budget blueprint have nothing to do with immigrants for refugees. For instance, it is believed that the Administration’s budget blueprint will propose cutting funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development by $6 BILLION, or 14 percent; the Department of Commerce by 18 percent, and staffing for the Environmental Protection Agency by about 20 percent.
From an immigration- and refugee perspective, the Administration has foreshadowed the following:
- Funding for the Department of State. The Administration earlier had signaled its intent to propose cuts of as much as 37 percent in the Department of State and its U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) for fiscal year 2018, which, together, provide more than $6 BILLION in funding each year to assist refugees throughout the world. .However, the Administration did not specified how those cuts would be distributed across the Department.
A cut of 37 percent in the State Department's budget would translate into a $15.5 BILLION spending reduction, down to $34.6 BILLION for the two entities, compared with $50.1 BILLION in fiscal year 2017.
While initially proposed as a 3 percent cut all in one year, late reports indicate that the Administration may have softened the blow and may be prepared to subject the Department to those cuts over a three-year period.
- Funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Within the Department of Homeland Security, the Administration has signaled that it will propose increasing spending for Customs and Border Protection by $3 BILLION and increasing spending for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by $2.1 BILLION in Fiscal Year 2018.
Within those totals, the Administration reportedly will propose spending $1.4 BILLION to help pay for the construction of a wall between the United States and Mexico, $1.9 BILLION to pay for additional detention beds and transportation costs for deportations, $100 MILLION to hire the first 500 of an eventual 5,000-person increase in Border Patrol agents, and $185 MILION to pay for the first 1,000 of an eventual 10,000 additional ICE officers.
Overall, the Administration has signaled that it intends to increase spending for the Department of Homeland Security by 6 percent, increasing its funding in fiscal year 2018 to $43.8 BILLION.In order to accomplish that goal, it would combine the dramatic increases in immigration enforcement and border security funding that previously were noted with significant cuts elsewhere in DHS’s budget.For instance, it reportedly is contemplating cutting funding for the Coast Guard by $1.3 BILLION, or 14 percent; the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) by $500 MILLION, or 11 percent; and the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) by $370 MILLION, or 11 percent.
Concerns Among GOP Ranks. The President’s budget blueprint had not yet been delivered to Congress before members of both parties began to express concerns about some of the ideas floated by OMB. Much of the concerns expressed by Republicans focused on the proposed cuts to the Department of State’s budget. Critics of those proposed cuts include Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ), and Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
There was less opposition from Republican ranks to the proposed increases in immigration enforcement and border security spending. However, a number of Republicans expressed concerns about some of the offset identified by OMB that would enable those increases, such as proposals that were floated to cut spending for the Coast Guard, TSA, and FEMA.
What is at Stake. At stake in the budget and spending battles that will be launched with the submission of the President’s fiscal year 2018 budget plan will be the important questions of how much money will be spent in the coming fiscal year for the nation’s immigration-, border security- and refugee-related departments, agencies, offices, functions, programs, and activities. But also at stake are a number of important immigration- and refugee-related policy matters, including policy on such issues as the treatment of unaccompanied alien children from Central American and elsewhere who wind up in federal custody; the fate of the Obama Administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative; the question of how many, if any, refugees the United States will admit during the year; and whether the Trump Administration will be able to secure the funds to advance the President’s aggressive policy directives to dramatically increase detention and deportations and construct a wall between the United States and Mexico.
There was less opposition from Republican ranks to the proposed increases in immigration enforcement and border security spending. However, a number of Republicans expressed concerns about some of the offset identified by OMB that would enable those increases, such as proposals that were floated to cut spending for the Coast Guard, TSA, and FEMA.
What is at Stake. At stake in the budget and spending battles that will be launched with the submission of the President’s fiscal year 2018 budget plan will be the important questions of how much money will be spent in the coming fiscal year for the nation’s immigration-, border security- and refugee-related departments, agencies, offices, functions, programs, and activities. But also at stake are a number of important immigration- and refugee-related policy matters, including policy on such issues as the treatment of unaccompanied alien children from Central American and elsewhere who wind up in federal custody; the fate of the Obama Administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative; the question of how many, if any, refugees the United States will admit during the year; and whether the Trump Administration will be able to secure the funds to advance the President’s aggressive policy directives to dramatically increase detention and deportations and construct a wall between the United States and Mexico.