Washington, D.C.--Congressman Eliot Engel voted for the Fiscal Year 2010 Homeland Security Appropriations legislation, designed to bolster our national security through improvements to law enforcement, border security, immigration and many other programs.

The 11-term Congressman said, “This legislation stresses the need to protect our southwest border, especially in light of the recent Government Accountability Office report which states there is a virtually unimpeded flow of weapons from the United States to the Mexican drug cartels. I commissioned the report, after the announcement of the Merida Initiative in October 2007, to help the Mexican government fight the cartels. It is mind-boggling that we have had no interagency strategy to address this, but instead rely on uncoordinated efforts by a variety of agencies. President Obama took an important step early this month in finally laying out a strategy to combat this serious problem.”

Rep. Engel added, “This legislation is a good start in providing some of the resources needed to curb illegal gun trafficking to Mexico, and it provides greater protections to our citizens. It also makes much needed infrastructure repairs, which have long been needed. By investing in border and port security, immigration, disaster relief and others programs, we can better protect our citizens. I am also pleased the bill saves over $3 billion from the President’s requests.”

Key components of the legislation include investments into immigration priorities, border security and other programs. Some top priorities in these categories include:

Immigration

* $1.5 billion to identify illegal immigrants with criminal records and prioritize them for removal.
* $200 million for Secure Communities, a program for local law enforcement to check fingerprints for people booked on criminal charges for immigration and criminal records.
* $248 million to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to better process refugee applications and asylum claims, improve E-Verify, and expand immigrant integration and outreach efforts for new Americans.

Border Security

* $10 billion to Customs and Border Protection for a widespread amount of improvements including funding more agents, better equipment and counterdrug initiatives.
* $97.8 million for ICE to combat international trade of illicit drugs, weapons smuggling and other crimes.
* $250 million for port security grants and over $10 billion for improvements for the Coast Guard.
* Over $1 billion for air cargo and cargo container security to bolster screening and inspections.

Others

* $382 million for cyber security, protecting computer networks from attack.
* $935 million for FEMA to help response and surge capabilities.
* $2 billion for disaster relief.
* $220 million to modernize flood maps.
* $200 million for increasing needs for emergency food and shelter.

Today’s action was another step in a long process. The full Senate is also working on their version of the bill, and the differences between the two bills will need to be ironed out.