Senator Carper Emphasizes the Importance of Properly Funding the Department of Homeland Security

Today at the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Hearing “The FY25 DHS Budget: Resources and Authorities Requested to Protect and Secure the Homeland,” U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), a senior member of the Committee, heard from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on how President Biden’s proposed budget for the upcoming year supports critical DHS operations and capabilities. During the hearing, Senator Carper reiterated his support for the Biden Administration’s efforts to secure the border, build capacity to enforce immigration law, and counter illegal fentanyl trafficking – both through the DHS budget request and the negotiated bipartisan border bill released earlier this year.

Senator Carper highlighted the need for the Congress to work with the Administration in a bipartisan way to achieve meaningful immigration reform:

“[Immigration reform] is a shared responsibility between the executive branch and the legislative branch. I’ve been privileged to serve on this Committee since it was first created [and] to lead this Committee. When we’re at our best we work together, we work across party lines, and we need to do that in this case as well.”

Senator Carper then called attention to the connection between migrants that want to temporarily come to the United States to work and the workforce needs of U.S. employers:

“If we’re really serious about helping to meet the workforce needs of employers, large and small, in our different states and communities, one of the things we could do is pass bipartisan legislation dealing with [the] workforce, and with immigration. That would help us provide a legal path for people to come and stay here for a while […] and meet the needs that I hear [about] every week from our employers.”

A video of Senator Carper’s questions at today’s hearing can be found here. 

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