Sen. Hutchison Cosponsors Measure to Provide $550 Million in Border Protection Funds--Bipartisan Amendment Would Fund Local Law Enforcement and Anti-Smuggling and Gunrunning Efforts
WASHINGTON D.C. After receiving a commitment from the amendment sponsors to include funding for local law enforcement along the border U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) Texas senior Senator today signed on as an original cosponsor to the Lieberman-Collins amendment to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Budget.
The amendment would significantly strengthen U.S. efforts to fight violence caused by the Mexican drug cartels along the U.S.-Mexican border.
We need to do more to put an end to the violence being spread along our border by drug cartels" said Sen. Hutchison. This amendment includes funding for our local police chiefs and sheriffs on the border who too often find themselves outnumbered and outgunned and it will fight the illegal flow of weapons into Mexico. These are two issues that Ive worked on with Senator Bingaman for many years."
The amendment includes $260 million for Customs and Border Protection to hire train equip and deploy 1600 officers and 400 canine teams to the border to significantly increase the number of exit inspections. It also includes:
• $130 million to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for 350 full time investigators to work on firearm trafficking and money laundering investigations;
• $20 million for DHS to improve the tactical communications in the field for CBP and ICE;
• $20 million for CBP to modernize its database used to identify potential criminals at the ports of entry;
• $30 million for Operation Stonegarden to reimburse state and local law enforcement for their participation in border actions;
• $50 million to the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms agency to hire an additional 150 investigators and 50 inspectors to investigate firearms trafficking at the Mexican border;
• $10 million to provide assistance and equipment to local law enforcement along the Southern border and in the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas to combat criminal narcotics activity;
• $20 million for the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center at DHS to better coordinate investigations between federal state and local law enforcement;
• $10 million for DHS Office of International Affairs and the Undersecretary for Management to oversee implementation of the Merida Initiative and to increase its staffing at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico.
