Congress Approves Funds
For Northern Border Security
. . . Customs Service Staff Could Double

WASHINGTON (Dec. 20) – Congress has taken the first major step toward implementing the goal of tripling Northern Border security staffing as called for in anti-terrorism legislation authored by Sen. Patrick Leahy and enacted in October.

The U.S. Senate Thursday passed a bill that includes domestic security funding, sending it to the desk of President Bush, who will sign it, according to Leahy. The bill will increase funding for Northern Border security by nearly $200 million, including $120 million for more U.S. Customs agents, $55 million for more immigration inspectors and nearly $24 million for more Border Patrol staff.

So far, the White House has only been a passive partner in implementing Leahy’s Northern Border security program. The Administration’s requests for domestic preparedness since Sept. 11 have been largely silent on the subject of the Northern Border, leaving Congress to include the funds in federal agency budgets.

"It has not been easy, but we have finally begun to commit the resources we will need to make security what it should be on the border," said Leahy. "Our border staff are being pushed to the limit, and assigning National Guard personnel is only a short-term fix. I hope that the White House will become an active partner in helping us get the rest of this job done."

Leahy, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, worked with other Northern Border senators to include the supplemental funds for domestic security in the annual Defense Appropriations Bill. Leahy also chairs the Judiciary Committee, where he led the negotiations that produced the earlier anti-terrorism bill.

Thursday’s action adds to other funds for Northern Border security that have been included in recent weeks in the annual appropriations bills for these agencies. Over the last month, Congress has approved and the President has signed budgets for 2002 that will provide an additional $56 million equally divided between the U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) for added resources along the Northern Border.

For several decades the Northern Border has often been shortchanged as resources have been diverted to curb drug trafficking along the Southwest Border. The number of Border Patrol agents along the 2,000-mile Southwestern Border has risen to nearly 8,000, while the number along the porous 4,000-mile Northern Border has remained at about 300 –– the same number as a decade ago. Similarly, the U.S. Customs Service employs about 1,800 agents along the border in the north, compared to the 8,000 agents who serve on the U.S.-Mexican border.