Let me give some examples of what failing to act will mean. Without this emergency funding. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could be forced to release thousands of people currently being detained and to stop operating repatriation flights. Health and Human Services could be forced to cut back on the number of children it can care for. Children would be forced to stay longer at Border Patrol stations and Border Patrol agents would spend more of their time taking care of children and less time pursuing the smuggling networks operating along our borders. Some of my colleagues are suggesting that we will not be able to pass this supplemental until September and that the administration can just move money around until then to make up for the shortfall. That may have been more feasible earlier in the fiscal year. but doing so now will likely have some significant unintended consequences. For example. it would impair our border security because DHS may have to reduce aerial support for the Border Patrol or stop replacing the badly needed xray machines at our ports of entry. Our ability to respond to natural disasters could also be harmed. I also understand my colleagues in the House introduced a bill today that would provide $659 million to deal with this crisis.
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border security Immigration Border Patrol