Democratic senators urge Homeland Security secretary to reconsider proposed cuts to security programs

A group of 21 Democratic U.S. Senate members recently sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly, requesting he reconsider the proposed budget cuts to mass transit security programs in order to fund President Trump’s border wall with Mexico.

On Jan. 25, President Trump signed an executive order on immigration, titled Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvement, a large portion of which contain provisions related to the President’s proposed border wall. The order states specifically that the Department of Homeland Security “identify and, to the extent permitted by law, allocate all sources of federal funds for the planning, designing, and construction of a physical wall along the southern border.”

Provisions in the budget include proposals to eliminate grants to state and local law enforcement agencies that assist in patrolling airports and cutting the Transportation Security Administration’s Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response teams, which work to combat the threat of terrorist attacks at the nation’s transit systems.

“We are concerned that the president’s budget request fails to address our real immigration challenges and trades proven programs – those that are currently protecting Americans from actual threats to our national security – for the purpose of aggressively implementing a campaign promise,” the letter said. “We request that you take these immigration and national security concerns under consideration and modify the President’s Fiscal Year 2018 Budget accordingly.”