Customs and Border Protection, meanwhile, will receive $22.6 billion to hire, pay, train, and equip border patrol agents and border support personnel. On top of this, $3.5 billion will be allocated for technology improvements needed for border security.
The large funding allocation has raised concerns that Congress has virtually ceded oversight of immigration enforcement operations and spending. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R, Alaska), the lone Republican to vote against the measure, wrote in a statement Friday that appropriating funding for three fiscal years instead of the usual one “reduces Congress’ ability to apply reasonable checks on immigration policy for the remainder of this Administration and into the next.”
What’s out?
To Democrats’ disappointment, the bill passed without imposing any new restrictions on how immigration agents should operate. Throughout the standoff, Democrats wanted to mandate body cams on officers, bar them from wearing masks during enforcement operations, and require judicial warrants before they could enter homes, among other reforms.
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