At $28 billion, the Justice Department’s 2019 budget would remain essentially unchanged from President Trump’s fiscal year 2018 request
The department seeks $66 million in 2019 funds to bolster its support for immigration enforcement, according to a statement. The department’s executive office for immigration review (EIOR) runs the courts that adjudicate immigration cases. In early fiscal 2018, the backlog of cases in immigration courts was 650,000, a 25 percent increase from 2016.
To help handle the load, Justice requested $39.8 million in 2019 for 75 new immigration judges and support staff. An additional $25 million would go for information technology modernization of EIOR’s entirely paper-based records system.
Justice asked for 70 additional immigration enforcement prosecutors in fiscal 2018, and now seeks $1 million for staff to support them.
Assistant Attorney General Lee Lofthus said that $2.175 billion from the administration’s infrastructure budget would be added to FBI funds previously set aside for a new FBI headquarters, The Washington Post reported Monday. Justice announced this week a plan to keep about 8,000 FBI employees in Washington and move 2,000 to locations across the country
