The US Congress on Thursday passed legislation to strengthen security along the border with Mexico, trying to tackle the politically sensitive issue of illegal immigrants ahead of November congressional elections. Final legislative action came as the Senate passed the bill on a voice vote, one day after the House of Representatives interrupted a six-week recess to pass the bill.
It now goes to President Barack Obama, who had requested the $600 million the measure provides and is expected to sign it into law. Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat and one of only two senators present for debate of the bill in the 100-member chamber, said the measure would give the Obama administration the resources it needs to "combat drug smugglers, gun runners, human traffickers, money launderers and other organised criminals that seek to do harm" along the border.
The money will fund some 1,500 new border patrol agents, customs inspectors and other law enforcement officials along the south-western border, as well as two more unmanned aerial "drones" to monitor border activities. Congress' speedy approval of the border security funds marked a rare display of bipartisanship in the hot-button immigration debate. Violence along the border has escalated in recent years, but Alan Bersin, commissioner for the Customs and Border Protection agency, said recently illegal crossings have begun to decline while seizures of weapons and drugs have gone up.