PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP’S BORDER SECURITY VICTORY

Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 15, 2019 PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP’S BORDER SECURITY VICTORY “I will never waver from my sacred duty to defend this Nation and its people.  We will get the job done.” – President Donald J. Trump   SECURING OUR BORDER: President Donald J. Trump is following through on his promise to secure the border with legislation and Executive action. President Trump was elected partly on his promise to secure the Southern Border with a barrier and, since his first day in office, he has been following through on that promise. As the President has said, sections of the border wall are already being built, and legislation and Executive actions are building on that progress. Executive action being taken by the President makes available additional funding to secure our border that is essential to our national security. LEGISLATIVE WINS: President Trump secured a number of significant legislative victories in the Homeland Security appropriations bill that further his effort to secure the Southern Border and protect our country.  The funding bill contains robust resources and additional provisions to secure the border and strengthen immigration enforcement.    The bill provides $1.375 billion for approximately 55 miles of border barrier in highly dangerous and drug smuggling areas in the Rio Grande Valley, where it is desperately needed.   More than 40 percent of all border apprehensions occurred in the Rio Grande Valley sector in fiscal year (FY) 2018.   The Rio Grande Valley was the border sector with the most known deaths of illegal border crossers in FY 2018.   $415 million will go toward addressing the humanitarian crisis at the border by providing medical care, transportation, processing centers, and consumables. President Trump successfully rejected efforts by some to undercut Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) ability to uphold our laws and detain illegal aliens, including criminals.   ICE funding supports nearly 5,000 additional beds to detain illegal aliens and keep criminals off our streets.   Customs and Border Protection will receive funding for 600 additional officers. This bill will help keep deadly drugs out of our communities by increasing drug detection at ports of entry, including opioid detection staffing, labs, and equipment.  A PROMISE TO ACT: President Trump is taking Executive action to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at our Southern Border.    President Trump is using his legal authority to take Executive action to secure additional resources, just as he promised.  In part, he is declaring a national emergency that makes available additional troops and funding for military construction. Including funding in Homeland Security appropriations, the Administration has so far identified up to $8.1 billion that will be available to build the border wall once a national emergency is declared and additional funds have been reprogrammed, including: About $601 million from the Treasury Forfeiture Fund Up to $2.5 billion under the Department of Defense funds transferred for Support for Counterdrug Activities (Title 10 United States Code, section 284)  Up to $3.6 billion reallocated from Department of Defense military construction projects under the President’s declaration of a national emergency (Title 10 United States Code, section 2808) These funding sources will be used sequentially and as needed. The Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, and the Army Corps of Engineers are working to create a prioritized list of segments and a work plan for the remainder of FY 2019 and beyond. New projects could include: new levee wall, new and replacement primary pedestrian barrier, new vehicle-to-pedestrian barrier, and new secondary barrier. NATIONAL EMERGENCY ON OUR BORDER: The President is using his clear authority to declare a national emergency as allowed under the National Emergencies Act. Since 1976, presidents have declared nearly 60 national emergencies.   Most of the previously declared national emergencies have been continually renewed and are still in effect, after being continually renewed. Multiple Governors have declared states of emergency along the border in the past. Former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, who became President Obama’s DHS Secretary, declared a state of emergency along the border in 2005. Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson also declared a state of emergency at the border in 2005.   Former President George W. Bush and former President Obama both directed the use of the military to assist DHS in securing and managing the Southern Border. Former President Bush declared a national emergency in 2001, which invoked reprogramming authority granted by Title 10 United States Code, section 2808, and both he and former President Obama used that authority a total of 18 times to fund projects between 2001 and 2014. ADDRESSING THE CRISIS AT HAND: President Trump is taking the necessary steps to address the crisis at our Southern Border and stop crime and drugs from flooding into our Nation. Cartels, traffickers, and gangs, like the vile MS-13 gang, have taken advantage of our weak borders for their own gain. Immigration officers have made 266,000 arrests of criminal aliens in the last two fiscal years. This includes aliens charged or convicted of approximately 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes, and 4,000 killings. Tons of deadly drugs have flooded across the border and into our communities, taking countless American lives. Methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl all flow across our Southern Border and destroy our communities.  More than 70,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2017 alone. Human traffickers exploit our borders to traffic young girls and women into our country and sell them into prostitution and slavery. Massive caravans of migrants view our unsecure border as a way to gain illegal entry into our country and take advantage of our nonsensical immigration loopholes. ###