Donald Trump says he loves the Coast Guard’s “brand,” yet he is once again looking at the Coast Guard as a piggy bank for his anti-immigrant agenda. Last year, he proposed cutting the Coast Guard budget to help pay for the border wall he’s so obsessed with. That didn’t happen, but now his administration plans to shift Coast Guard funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to help terrorize undocumented immigrants.
The Coast Guard would give up $77 million in funding and the Coast Guard Reserve “may be required to provide a contribution” as well, because ICE is just that important and it’s not like the Coast Guard is doing anything useful, right?
The Coast Guard also set a record last year, confiscating more than 455,000 pounds of cocaine at sea. Most of that was traveling from Colombia to the West Coast of the United States, and confiscated in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Yup, that $77 million sure would be better spent detaining little kids.