Biden administration leaves Homeland Security budget flat despite border surge

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told lawmakers the Biden administration will seek $52.2 billion in funding for the coming fiscal year, leaving the agency’s budget unchanged despite the strains of a migration surge along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Mayorkas provided lawmakers with an overview of the department’s funding targets for fiscal 2022, which begins in October, and said a detailed request would be released Friday. He said it will include $1.2 billion for border infrastructure and $345 million in additional discretionary spending for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to address backlogs in asylum and naturalization processing, as well as the funding needed to admit as many as 125,000 refugees, as President Biden has directed.