Billions for Border Security
In "Big Beautiful Bill"
THE WEEK’S US BORDER NEWS IN BRIEF:
“Reconciliation” funding bill passes House, moves to Senate:
On May 22nd, the House of Representatives narrowly passed a budget bill with a mammoth amount of new spending to harden the U.S.-Mexico border and increase internal immigration enforcement. Items include $46.5 billion for border wall construction, $45 billion for migrant detention, and $15 billion for deportations, among many other outlays. The bill now moves to the Republican-majority Senate, and it could pass by July.
US may (re)pay Texas $11 billion for “Operation Lone Star” expenses:
Before Trump “Border Czar” Tom Homan took office, he visited Texas troops assigned to Governor Greg Abbott’s “Operation Lone Star” border security mission and declared it to be “the model we can take across the country.” Not only did Homan and the Defense Department do just that - by sending US troops to the border to perform many of the tasks Texas’ soldiers did, Trump appointed Texas “Border Czar” Mike Banks to head the US Border Patrol. The President’s “Big Beautiful Bill” would repay Texas for “Operation Lone Star” expenses, assuming the US Senate does not strip that provision from the bill.
NOTE: I have since written an article about this HERE if you want to learn more.
The U.S. military’s growing border and migration missions:
Prosecutors in El Paso have secured 60 convictions of people arrested for trespassing on “military property” in a narrow fringe of West Texas borderland that the Trump administration has temporarily handed over to the Defense Department. Soldiers so far have not carried out apprehensions, at least in the New Mexico “National Defense Area.” These new areas remain poorly mapped. The military mission at the border so far has cost $525 million, and the use of the Guantánamo base to detain migrants has reportedly cost $100,000 per detainee per day.
Alien Enemies Act updates:
The Supreme Court upheld and prolonged a block on the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to remove Venezuelans to El Salvador’s CECOT prison. Other judges continue to question the legality of President Trump’s invocation of the 1798 law, and to complain about non-cooperation with judicial orders, like one prohibiting a rapid removal of third-country migrants to South Sudan, and another demanding Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s facilitated return from El Salvador.
Supreme Court upholds Venezuela TPS cancellation:
In what may be “the biggest instantaneous ‘de-documentation’ of immigrants in U.S. history,” the Supreme Court upheld the Trump administration’s cancellation of Temporary Protected Status for up to 350,000 citizens of Venezuela living in the United States. The administration may be negotiating a deal with Venezuela’s regime that would allow more deportation flights, three of which have landed in Caracas in the past week.
NOTE: This weekly summary was adapted from a far more comprehensive one by WOLA.org, which you can read in full HERE.
(If you found this summary helpful, I invite you to financially support WOLA’s work).
FINALLY, IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
(Stories covered by US Border News during the past week)
Texas Border: Cartel Drone Invasion Underway, Experts Warn
US Military responds
US Border: More Troops Deploy for Security Mission
1,115 soldiers on the way
Mexican Cartels Lose $1M+ Cash to Texas Cops
Seizures sting - a little
Warning Systems Down as Hurricane Season Nears
Texas Gulf Coast Vulnerable
I am committed to delivering a US Border Newsletter that is not only educational and insightful but also engaging and easy to digest in five minutes or less.
(How am I doing? Let me know in the comments!)
Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
Can you please keep Texans posted if federal will compensate Texas for operation Lone Star ⭐️🇺🇸
Unconstitutional "malarky" from the past coming back to bite us. The ownership of large tracts of land by the Federal government as a condition of statehood should have been struck down by the Supreme Court if they were serious about being the guardians of the Constitution - which power they simply stole from the States and people in the first place, but that's whole 'nother rabbit hole.