April 12, 2004

Amid questions over budget projections and whether or not two of the key federal border agencies; Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are experiencing payroll cost overruns, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that hiring at the agencies would be suspended for several weeks March 26. About 60,000 employees are employed at the agencies, which are potentially facing a $1.2 billion budget shortfall. The move was first reported by The Wall Street Journal March 26.

The issue resulted from a mid-year budget review a DHS spokesman said, who described the move as "temporary". The Transportation Security Administration will be unaffected according to DHS. The freeze was ordered earlier in the week by the Undersecretary for Border and Transportation Security at DHS, former Arkansas Representative Asa Hutchinson.

CBP and ICE are two of the federal agencies with most presence at border ports-of-entry as well as airports and seaports. However, the hiring freeze will not affect the Arizona Border Control initiative, which was announced recently and reported in U.S.Mayor, March 29. The Arizona initiative will involve placing additional border patrol officers along the Mexican border by June 1, an official said.

The move was met with criticism from both House and Senate Republicans and Democrats.