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Showing posts with the label resources

Under pressure, Homeland Security surging resources to border as Title 42 ends

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The end of Title 42 test Homeland Security's mettle The Department of Homeland Security is assigning hundreds of asylum officers to the border to sort through the region's recent surge in humanitarian needs, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Wednesday. "Short-term solutions" are needed to address the "decades-old problem" of a "broken immigration system," Mayorkas said in explaining the surge. "We are clear-eyed about the challenges we are likely to face in the days and weeks ahead. ... We are taking this approach within the constraints of a broken immigration system that Congress has not fixed for more than two decades and without the resources we need: personnel, facilities, transportation and others that we have requested of Congress and that we were not given," he said. The rising number of migrants crossing the border "places an incredible strain on our personnel, our facilities and our communities with whom we partner closely...

After suicides, lawmakers push for mental health resources for border agents

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As Republicans plan to aggressively challenge President Biden's border and immigration policies in the House next year, one border-district Republican is drawing attention an alarming number of suicides in the ranks of Customs and Border Protection agents. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, and a bipartisan group of lawmakers plan this week to introduce the TAPS Act to direct resources to Border Patrol agents -- modeled on a past effort at the Pentagon to address mental health issues in the Military . "There's a lot of things that should unite us," Gonzales said at a news conference Wednesday. "The fact that we have 14 agents who have committed suicide [this year] is a problem ... and it's a problem for this body to solve." Rep. Tony Gonzales speaks during a news conference on rising suicide rates at the U.S. Border Patrol, Dec. 7, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Mariam Zuhaib/AP MORE: Border apprehensions exceed 2 million this year: Enforcement in...