Today, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05), who serves as Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (FSGG), wrote to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin strongly objecting to the Trump administration’s proposals to move funding from the Treasury Forfeiture Fund (TFF) for construction of physical barriers along the southern border.
“The Administration’s proposed plan applies these funds towards the construction of a symbolic, but ultimately ineffective, border wall," Chairman Quigley wrote. “Given the vast majority-more than 87 percent-of hard narcotics enter through official U.S. ports of entry, I urge the Administration to reconsider its proposed plan and instead direct TFF Strategic Support funds where they will effectively support law enforcement efforts to shut down illicit drug trafficking."
Historically, TFF Strategic Support funding has been used to augment the resources available to federal law enforcement agencies - including the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the U.S. Secret Service - and enhance their efforts to disrupt and dismantle criminal enterprises, including drug trafficking organizations. The President has proposed diverting this funding to construct barriers on the southern border as part of a series of executive actions accompanying his national emergency declaration.
The full text of the letter can be found.
Source: U.S. Department of HCA
