Trump officials tell GOP lawmakers they need $175B to secure borders

Two senior Trump administration officials told Republican senators at a closed-door lunch meeting Tuesday that they’re running out of money to secure the borders and need Congress to immediately pass $175 billion to complete the U.S.-Mexico border wall and hire more law-enforcement agents.

Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan and his White House budget director, Russell Vought, warned GOP lawmakers that they can’t wait another few months for Republicans to reach agreement on a complex tax package before getting more money to secure the northern and southern borders.

“The problem we have now, we’re running out of money,” Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told reporters after the meeting with Homan and Vought.

“Tom Homan said, ‘I am begging you for money.’ Russ Vought said, ‘We’re running out of money for [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], we can’t rob other accounts any longer,’” Graham said.

Graham reported that Homan explained new money from Congress would help law enforcement agents track down an estimated 300,000 children who have been smuggled into the United States and separated from their parents.

“There are 300,000 children that are missing that we want to find. The sooner we can find them, we’ll end their abuse,” Graham said. “To the American people, if you want your government to track down these 300,000 immigrant children that are missing, we’ll need more money to do it.”

Graham said Congress also needs to provide more money to finish the U.S.-Mexico border wall and hire Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to deport migrants accused of criminal activity.

He urged Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to invite Homan and Vought to speak to House Republicans to convince them to break up Trump’s legislative agenda into two packages and move one focused on border security.

Graham plans to mark up a budget resolution Wednesday that would lay the groundwork for the Senate to pass a budget reconciliation package with a simple majority vote that would fund border security, expand oil and gas drilling and boost defense spending.

Johnson, however, wants to move Trump’s agenda in one package that includes border security, energy reform, defense and an extension of the expiring 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Johnson on Tuesday called Graham’s budget plan a “nonstarter” in the House.

Graham on Tuesday said “nothing would please me more than one big, beautiful bill passed by the House that did all the things we need to do to make us prosperous and safe,” but he warned the administration could run out of money.

“I’m urging the Speaker to invite them over and let them tell the House what they told us,” Graham said.

"I'm going to do what I think is best with my colleagues to make America safe," he said. "I heard Tom Homan, pretty tough guy, begging us for money. ... I heard Russ Vought, the [Office of Management and Budget] guy, say ICE is out of money."

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