Bush Budget Stiffs Border Patrol?
"Republican House members are worried President Bush may present a fiscal 2006 budget that does not request full funding for all the new Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents that were authorized for next year in the bill responding to the 9/11 Commission's recommendations that Bush signed into law in December," writes Terrence P. Jeffrey. "The law authorized doubling the Border Patrol from about 10,000 agents to 20,000 by adding 2,000 per year for five years. It also authorized tripling ICE agents (who enforce immigration laws in the interior) from 2,000 to 6,000 by adding 800 per year for five years. Additionally, it authorized tripling detention beds where illegal aliens can be held to 60,000 over five years."