2010 budget adds to DHS immigration programs

The Obama administration has requested a 6.5 percent increase for the Homeland Security Department in fiscal 2010, which would raise the department’s discretionary budget to $42.7 billion.

That is $2.6 billion more than the fiscal 2009 level of $40.1 billion, as outlined in the president’s 142-page budget highlights document, titled “A New Era of Responsibility.” The Office of Management and Budget released the document today. The funding is in addition to the $2.8 billion for DHS in the recent economic stimulus law.

Highlights of the DHS spending plan include $1.4 billion for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s efforts to identify and deport illegal aliens who have committed crimes.

The administration would spend $368 million for existing border patrol agents at the Customs and Border Protection agency, $355 million to secure and enhance public and private cyber infrastructures, $260 million for the existing Homeland Security Grant Program to improve information sharing and analysis by funding thousands more intelligence analysts at the state and local level.

The administration also requested $110 million to continue expanding the E-Verify system, which employers use to check workers’ Social Security numbers and immigration status.

The administration said it plans to save $190 million in a five-year period by terminating the Coast Guard’s long-range radio navigation system named Loran-C, which it describes as outdated.