DHS Secretary touts agency’s proposed budget allocations

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas recently released a statement regarding the $97.3 billion earmarked for the agency via President Joe Biden’s Fiscal Year 2023 budget.

Mayorkas said the appropriation ensures DHS personnel are equipped with the tools to safeguard the Americans, the homeland, and the nation’s values.

“Throughout the last year, I traveled across the country to meet with the DHS workforce, and I heard directly from them about the resources they need to achieve their critical mission,” Mayorkas said. “The Budget will support our work to protect communities from today’s complex threats by doubling funding for the Non-Profit Security Grant Program and investing in DHS’s anti-human trafficking efforts. It will bolster our critical work to protect the traveling public by ensuring that the TSA workforce will be paid on par with other Federal Government employees.”

Mayorkas said the budget also makes smart investments in technology to keep the nation’s borders secure and includes funding enabling the department to increase efficiency regarding efforts to process asylum claims.

The DHS said the budget would protect American communities from complex threats; double funding for the Non-Profit Security Grant Program to $360 million; increase funding for the ICE Victim Assistance Program by $12 million; fund the hiring of 300 new border patrol agents and 300 new border patrol processing coordinators responding to migration along the southwest border.