Fact Check: Did Republicans Call for Cutting 2,000 Border Patrol Agents?

Republican lawmakers who are part of the party's conservative House Freedom Caucus outlined a budget proposal on March 10 that seeks to cut current government spending and cap future expenditure.

The Biden administration then went on the offensive on Monday, laying into the plan as being "a disaster for families in at least five key ways," including "endangering public safety" and "weakening national security."

The preemptive attack comes ahead of discussions between the White House and the Republican House majority about the 2024 budget in which President Joe Biden will likely look to protect the funding he secured for key planks of his agenda in the last legislative session.

However, some have claimed that the Republican group, having highlighted the issue of illegal migrant crossings over the border from Mexico, is calling for border patrol agent jobs to be cut.

The Claim

"After spending YEARS screaming about 'the border,' MAGA Republicans introduced a budget that calls for cutting 2,000 border patrol agents," Brian Tyler Cohen, a progressive political commentator and podcast host, wrote Monday night in a tweet. "Cannot make this stuff up."

The figure of 2,000 border patrol agents appears to have originated in Monday's statement from the White House that argued the proposal would "eliminate funding for more than 2,000" customs agents and would "severely undermine our ability to secure the border and combat drug trafficking."

It went on to say that this would allow for a further 150,000 pounds of cocaine, 900 pounds of fentanyl, nearly 2,000 pounds of heroin and 17,000 pounds of methamphetamine to enter the U.S.

"While the President's Budget proposes smart investments to improve public safety, strengthen border security, and improve the safety of our transportation networks, extreme MAGA Republicans are pushing draconian cuts to these critical national priorities that would endanger Americans' safety," the statement said.

Fox News, which first reported the statement, said the White House derived its figures from new analysis of the House Freedom Caucus proposal by the Office of Management and Budget. The Biden administration said in its statement that the Congressional Budget Office found that the tax cuts proposed would not be met with the required savings.

The Facts

The House Freedom Caucus responded to the White House on Monday, saying that its statements were "laughable" and claimed Biden was "responsible for throwing America's border into chaos."

The group dismissed the notion that it was calling for cuts to the number of border agents, arguing that funding was not the issue. They instead argued that the Biden administration needed to use the powers it already had to limit border crossings.

"All the money in the world won't stop the flow of fentanyl and illegal crossings if the president won't enforce the laws to secure the border," it tweeted.

House Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry drew a comparison between the number of illegal crossings under Biden and previous administrations, telling Fox News that he had spoken to border patrol agents who told him that they did not need further resources.

"They're willing and able to do the job," he added. "They need a president and a Secretary of Homeland Security who will enforce current law."

While there were fewer border crossings in 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows—largely slowed by the coronavirus pandemic—there had been a steady rise since February 2021, peaking at more than 300,000 encounters in December 2022. The previous record, 220,000, was in January 2000.

At the same time, Department of Homeland Security figures show the border force's overall budget has steadily risen since 2021 from just under $13 billion to nearly $14.5 billion in 2023.

Ralph Norman, South Carolina representative and House Freedom Caucus member, described the claim that the group's budget proposal would hurt border security as "false," calling the Biden administration "solely at fault" for the number of migrant encounters.

"Our plan puts this country back on a trajectory for fiscal sanity while making our borders safer than ever," he said.

The proposal seeks to end the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness plan, taking back unspent funding from the coronavirus pandemic, and pulling funding for climate change measures that were part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Cohen said it was common sense that the Republican plan would not specifically say it would cut 2,000 border agents.

"But if the practical impact of their cuts would mean that they wouldn't be able to afford up to 2,400 border agents, then that's certainly significant," he said in an email to Newsweek. "Otherwise, Republicans know they can game the refs by basically vowing to cut off all funding, while knowing that unless they explicitly write "CUT [X] JOBS" in their legislation, the media will allow them full deference. That's what's happening here."

Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment on Tuesday.

The Ruling

False. Republicans have not directly called for the cutting of border agents; rather, budgetary plans submitted by the conservative wing of Republican lawmakers would, according to the White House, create budget cuts that would lead to the loss of 2,000 border staff positions. However, the House Freedom Caucus, which made the proposals, dismissed the Biden administration's criticisms.

FACT CHECK BY NEWSWEEK

Correction 03/23/23, 3:01 p.m. ET: This article was corrected to remove the reference to the tweet being deleted. It was also updated with comment from Cohen.