Earlier this year, Congress enacted into law a fourth immigration-realted appropriations bill, the Fiscal Year 2010 Homeland Security Appropriations Act

House and Senate negotiators agreed on Tuesday, December 8, 2009, to combine the three immigration- and refugee-related appropriations measures referenced above with three other annual appropriations bills.  The vehicle that the negotiators chose to carry the consolidated appropriations bill is the conference report accompanying H.R. 3288, a meaure that originated as the Fiscal Year 2010 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Bill.  The House of Representatives agreed to the conference report today by a vote of 221-202. 

The Senate is having a more difficult time than the House in agreeing to the conference report.  Yesterday, the Senate voted to proceed to consideration of the measure.  But procedural tactics employed by Republicans likely will force the Senate to engage in a series of cloture votes that could put off Senate passage of the measure until Sunday, December 13.  Congress must complete consideration of the package by December 18, 2009, or it will have to enact a short-term, stop-gap measure to fund the impacted agencies, departments, and functions of the federal government. 

With regard to fiscal year 2010 funding levels in the measure for refugee admissions and overseas refugee assistance, the consolidated appropriations bill would appropriate $1.685 BILLION for the Department of State's Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) account.  This compares to $1.671 BILLION in MRA funding that was appropriated in fiscal year 2009 (including $740 MILLION that was appropriated in two emergency supplemental appropriations bills).  It is $204.556 MILLION above the level that was contained in the House-passed version of the State, Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill and $7.2 MILLION above the level contained in the version of the bill that was approved by the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

With regard to fiscal year 2010 funding levels in the measure for Refugee and Entrant assistance, which is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the consolidated appropriations bill would actually cut spending relative to fiscal year 2009.  The measure would appropriate $730.928 MILLION for ORR's activities in fiscal year 2010.  This compares to $833.4 MILLION that was appropriated for ORR in fiscal year 2009 (including an emergency supplemental appropriation of $82 MILLION in fiscal year 2009).  The $730.928 MILLION fiscal year 2010 ORR appropriation compares to $714.968 MILLION that was contained in the House-passed version of the Fiscal Year 2010 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill and $730.657 MILLION that was contained in the Senate Committee on Appropriations.  Of the total amount of fiscal year 2010 ORR funding that the negotiators agreed to, approximately $560.675 MILLION would be for refugee, asylee, and special immigrant resettlement services, $149.381 MILLION would be to care for unaccompanied alien children, $11.068 MILLION would be to assist torture victims who reside in the United States, and $$9.814 MILLION would be to asssit victims of trafficking who reside in the United States.

With regard to fiscal year 2010 funding for the immigration-related functions of the Department of Justice, the consolidated appropriations bill would significantly increase funding for the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).  Within the appropriation for EOIR, the measure would appropriate $6 MILLION for the continuation and expansion of legal orientation programs for immigration detainees.  Of this amount, the bill would set aside $2 MILLION "for programs aimed at the custodians of unaccompanied alien children in order to address the custodian's responsibility for the child's appearance at all immigration proceedings and to protect the child from mistreatment, exploitation and trafficking."  The measure also would set aside $24.253 MILLION for personnel and infrastructure investments at EOIR to enable it to more efficiently process an increasing immigration adjudication caseload.

In addition to funds for EOIR, the Department of Justice portion of the conference agreement on the consolidated appropriations bill would appropriate $330 MILLION for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), a function that the Obama Administration recommended be defunded.  It also would appropriate $31 MILLION for Southwest border prosecutions.

RELATED DOCUMENTS:

Text of the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Division of the Conference Report
Text of the Labor, HHS, Education, and Related Agencies Division of the Conference Report
Text of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Division of the Conference Report
 

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