House lawmakers are pushing to increase the amount of resources available for the Department of Homeland Security’s criminal investigations unit due to the immense pressure they’ve been experiencing during the historic rise in illegal border crossings.
Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R., N.Y.) shared that DHS had confirmed “hundreds of thousands of known ‘gotaways’ evaded Border Patrol last year and those number are only increasing.” Legislation is being pushed and prioritized to aid in funding the department’s Transnational Criminal Investigative Units (TCIU), which is used on the front lines to stop violent illegal immigrants, like those associated with MS-13 or other gangs, from trafficking drugs or other elicit materials across the border. There are unit authorities active in over 13 countries around the world, however staffing shortages have become a concern since the U.S. southern border control has become increasingly demanding.
“By strengthening the ranks of TCIUs, we can take on these criminal organizations at the source and head off transnational criminals before they reach our border,” Garbarino stated.
This bill would help to provide $2 million in funding each year to the department to pay stipends and payments to the workforce. Now, more than ever, this unit is crucial to protecting the border, as recently a known MS-13 members pleaded guilty to murder in Long Island, N.Y.
The hope is that the bill with gather a large amount of support, given that lawmakers are attempting to address the rise in resulting crime from the border crisis.
“My constituents are all too familiar with the damage that transnational criminal organizations can do,” Garbarino said. “Border Patrol is being overwhelmed by the record-breaking number of migrants attempting to cross our border, which has allowed violent transnational criminal organizations like MS-13 to slip through the cracks and infiltrate our country.”
Just in the last year alone, the TCIU conducted over 2,574 arrests, seized $10 million in currency, and were successful in intercepting 246,100 pounds of cocaine, 6,893 pounds of marijuana, 346 pounds of fentanyl products, as well as another 58,883 pounds of other miscellaneous drugs.
Not to mention, the investigative unit intercepted 561 weapons, 17,418 rounds of ammunition, 9 aircraft, 70 vehicles, 2 crime-related vessels, more than $22 million in counterfeit goods, and more than $11 million in real estate associated with criminal cartels.
Without the additional funding that this new bill would provide, sadly efforts will decline and as a result, more drugs and crime will occur in the country.
“Our frontline border law enforcement are being crushed under the dangerous impacts of the Biden administration’s reckless border security policies which are resulting in an increase in retirements and resignations,” Rep. John Katko (R., N.Y.), ranking member on the Homeland Security Committee and an initial sponsor of the bill, said in a statement. “The mission of HSI’s Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit is critical to the stability of our homeland security and the fight to slow the amount of drugs pouring across the border, particularly as we see [transnational criminal groups] exploiting the administration’s weak border policies for their gain.”
