The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is considering using $3 million in loose change left in trays at airports to fund border operations, NBC News reported Tuesday.
The $3 million is part of a plan to fulfill a $232 million request from the DHS to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to fund border operations if Congress does not approve the $1.1 billion the agency has asked for, according to contingency plans obtained by NBC.
Other components of DHS, including the Federal Emergency Management Administration, have reportedly also been asked to provide some of their overall budget to contribute to the $1.1 billion goal.
{mosads}Internal emails and a PowerPoint presentation from the TSA obtained by NBC outline how the agency would fund a “tax” its parent agency may levy upon it.
Apart from the $3 million in loose change, funding sources identified include $50 million set aside to buy advanced airport screening equipment and $64 million from a worker’s compensation fund set aside for injured TSA employees in 2010.
DHS officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill on the contingency plans.
President Trump earlier this month asked Congress for $4.5 billion to address the spike in undocumented immigrants crossing into the U.S., including the $1.1 billion for “border operations.”
Those operations include “personnel expenses, additional detention beds, and operations combating human smuggling and trafficking,” according to the White House.
Customs and Border Protection officials detained 109,144 migrants at the southern border last month, the highest number in more than a decade.