President Obama Requests $3.7 Billion to Assist in Border Crisis

President Barack Obama has asked Congress for more than $3.7 billion dollars to assist in what is being called a humanitarian crisis on the Texas and Mexico border.

Obama requested more than $3.7 billion dollars in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday, July 8^th.

The White House has said the money would help increase the detention, care and transportation of unaccompanied children crossing the border illegally, as well as help speed the removal of adults by increasing the capacity of immigration courts while also increasing the prosecution of smuggling networks.

Obama has requested the funds after declaring comprehensive immigration legislation dead in Congress and has also announced plans to proceed by executive action on the nation’s dysfunctional immigration system.

More than $1.1 billion dollars of the requested funds would go to the Department of Homeland Security to increase enforcement of the border and deter those crossing the border illegally.

Around $433 million dollars would assist Customs and Border Protection in helping provide additional facilities to detain unaccompanied children while in Border Patrol custody. The money would also increase air surveillance and drone flights along the border.

The Department of Justice would receive $64 million dollars to hire 40 additional teams of immigration judges and allow the system to process an additional 55,000 to 75,000 cases annually.

$1.8 billion dollars would be appropriated to the Department of Health and Human Services to strictly assist in the medical care and shelter of unaccompanied children.

A hearing is set to be scheduled between Washington lawmakers and the Senate Appropriations Committee to examine Obama’s request.