The White House is asking Congress for $4.5 billion more in emergency funding to address a surge of migrants at the border.
The White House asked Congress on Wednesday for $4.5 billion more in emergency funding to address a surge of migrants at the southern border.
In doing so, the administration acknowledged that President Trump’s emergency declaration to divert taxpayer money for a yet-to-be-built border wall cannot address the growing humanitarian challenge on the ground, which now requires additional government funding.
The president and his aides previously insisted the February declaration was necessary to address a “humanitarian and national security crisis.” But senior administration officials speaking on background told reporters Wednesday that those funds were never intended to — and could not — be used for anything other than barrier construction.
“The national emergency is taking funds within the scope of Department of Defense authority and shifting them to the wall,” one senior official said. “Dealing with the raw humanitarian needs of families and unaccompanied alien children is outside the scope of their authority.”
The bulk of the administration’s supplemental request seeks $3.3 billion for humanitarian assistance, including facilities to process and temporarily house migrants; clothing, diapers and baby formula; and increased shelter capacity and bed space, officials said.
Of that, more than $2.8 billion would go to the Department of Health and Human Services, charged with the care of unaccompanied migrant children, to increase its capacity by about 23,600 beds, according to the White House request.
The Homeland Security Department would receive $273 million for processing centers at the border, growing its bed capacity by 3,500.
Another $1.1 billion would go toward border operations, including paying for personnel, operations against human smuggling and trafficking operations, and additional detention beds under Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a source of contention in the negotiations over the spending agreement Trump signed in February.
Another $178 million would be used to upgrade information technology.
