Obama Budget Cuts Funding for Detainment of Illegal Immigrants

Obama Budget Cuts Funding for Detainment of Illegal Immigrants

President Obama’s proposed budget is a monstrosity of spending, but in several targeted areas, Obama proposes cuts. One of those cuts comes in funding for detaining illegal immigrants.

The new budget provides $39 billion for “discretionary funding” for the Department of Homeland Security, a cut of $615 million below the 2012 funding levels. The budget document identifies cuts in detainment thusly:

To ensure the most cost-effective use of Federal dollars, the Budget aligns ICE capabilities to place priority and mandatory detainees in detention, while allowing low-risk, non-mandatory detainees to enroll in lower cost parole-like alternatives to detention programs, which may include electronic monitoring and supervision.

The Obama administration has already released detained illegal immigrants in the lead-up to sequestration, blaming budget cuts; the administration has also unilaterally declared that it will not enforce immigration law with regard to illegal immigrants between the ages of 16 and 30 who entered the United States as minors.

Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the New York Times bestseller “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).

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