We need supplemental funding on the border

Update: On May 15th, a group of Senate Democrats introduced the Border Management, Security, and Assistance Act of 2023, a bill aimed at providing supplemental funding to the Southwest border while revising several policies related to border and asylum processing. The appropriations proposed in the bill total nearly $8 billion, more than double the recommendations we have outlined below. Among other changes to existing policy, the Border Management, Security, and Assistance Act of 2023 eliminates the 150-day waiting period for pending asylum applicant work authorization, permits the issuance of digital notices to appear, and removes the requirement for voluntary departure to be paid at the migrant’s expense. These changes and the high cost of the requested border funding have likely been prohibitive for Republican colleagues, thus weakening the Border Management, Security, and Assistance Act of 2023’s chances of progression. We continue to encourage bipartisan collaboration on an emergency border funding plan to address the complexities of our border security and humanitarian migration interests.

This week, the COVID-19 public health emergency terminated, ending the most impactful yet unrelated immigration restriction in decades used to expel migrants without the standard processing requirements. Unfortunately, despite having years to plan for the end of Title 42, the administration has done nothing to secure the emergency supplemental funding required to handle the anticipated influx of migrants in the coming months. 

Though no one expected Title 42 to last forever, many prominent Democrats and Republicans revolted last year — and again this year — against the President’s efforts to lift the pandemic-era restriction absent mitigating measures and funding. The courts ultimately stalled the effort to end Title 42 in 2021, giving the administration another year to create a workable transition plan. 

Given the pronounced need and (rare) time to plan, it’s baffling that the administration never requested an additional dime from a Congress that is otherwise obsessed with the border. The calculation could have been to attempt to force Congress’ hand, but the predictable outcome was the slate of House bills that recently emerged aimed only at halting bipartisan negotiations and ending asylum. 

The seemingly obvious answer is that the Biden administration needs to ask Congress to appropriate emergency border funding to rectify the capacity constraints of our border infrastructure, processing centers, nonprofits, and staff. If the administration’s predictions are correct, we will surpass 1 million encounters in fewer than two months, a number that scared nearly all Republicans into funding an emergency supplemental bill a few years ago.

In 2019, the former acting director of the Office of Management and Budget asked President Trump for help dealing with the migration needs on the border. That request stated, in part: 

Apprehensions are expected to surpass one million by the end of the year, more than doubling those compared to last year […] The situation becomes more dire each day [..] [and is] rapidly overwhelming the ability of the Federal Government to respond.

Congress listened and passed the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Humanitarian Assistance and Security at the Southern Border Act of 2019. A total of  176 Republicans — including notable hardliners Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) — voted in favor of the $4.5 billion package that provided funds for, but not limited to: 

• $65M for legal orientation, additional judges, and better immigration courtroom equipment through DOJ EOIR; 
• $1B for Customs and Border Patrol processing facilities, medical care, transportation, and personnel; 
• $30M in FEMA funds for local organizations serving communities that experienced significant numbers of migrant arrivals; and 
• $2.9B for Health and Human Services to process refugees and unaccompanied children.

As outlined below, the proper supplemental funding request for the current situation would total $3.8 billion, less than the amount requested by former President Trump and less than the amount ultimately granted by Congress in 2019. Even still, it would mark a significant investment in a situation becoming more painfully and acutely apparent by the day.

Without these funds, the Biden administration is bound to face crushing political ramifications for what is almost assuredly going to be a humanitarian disaster on our southern border. The political impacts will be far-reaching into 2024, but the people seeking safety, shelter, and work will feel the most catastrophic consequences of this failure to prepare. Most won’t qualify for permanent protection in the U.S., but all deserve to be treated humanely and fairly — a right that will not materialize without emergency border funding now.