Donald Trump Proposes to Cut TSA, Coast Guard Budget to Build Mexican Wall
U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly plans to cut the budget for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Coast Guard to bankroll the proposed Mexican wall that will facilitate existing policies on illegal immigration. The proposal is to cut the Coast Guard's budget by 14 percent and TSA's by 11 percent.
The proposed budget cut will contribute to a 6 percent increase in the Department of Homeland Security's budget, which is expected to skyrocket to up to $43.8 billion. According to lawmakers and security experts, the cut could hurt the efforts of the U.S. to protect the country from terrorist attacks.
Even retired administrator James Loy, who served as deputy homeland security secretary at TSA and administrator during former U.S. president George W. Bush's administration, said cutting the budget of the two agencies would be a "terrible black eye" for both agencies.
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"Now they would have to figure out how to do their job with significantly less resources. This is the amazing reality despite the fact that the bad guys have a love affair with commercial aviation as a target," said Loy. He added that the plan could undermine border security, considering the intercepted thousands of undocumented migrants in 2016.
If the proposed budget cut happens, the Customs and Border Protection will get an additional $3 billion budget and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement will get an extra $2.1 billion. $1.4 billion of the said budget will be used to build the U.S.-Mexico border.
Since his presidential campaign, Trump has been vocal about his plan to build the Mexican border wall. During the campaign, however, he insisted that Mexico would be the one to pay for the wall. Now, the plan is the U.S. will pay for the wall and seek repayment from Mexico when the wall is done.
