Homeland Security official says 'big beautiful bill' will provide border wall funding, more agents

Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin says President Donald Trump's "big beautiful bill" will provide her department with material and funding for the border wall and about 3,000 more border patrol agents.

"We're going to with this big, beautiful bill...we'll get about 3000 new border patrol agents," McLaughlin said. "We'll get cutting-edge technology, hundreds more miles of wall, which we need. We know a physical barrier matters."

The Senate on Tuesday morning passed Trump's "big beautiful bill" in a 50-50 vote, with Vice President J.D. Vance casting the tie-breaking vote. The House approved the bill Thursday and Trump signed it into law Friday during a festive Fourth of July celebration at the White House.

The law includes key components of Trump's campaigned-upon agenda, such as no taxes on tips, increased border security funding and extending his 2017 tax cuts.

"We know a physical barrier matters, and it does prevent people from illegally entering our country," McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin pointed out the lower number of illegal immigrants at the U.S. southern border has freed up border patrol agents to be able to focus on deportations. "They're not stuck at the processing centers," she said. 

Campaign promises

"They can actually go out into the field and get these nefarious actors, whether it be drug mules, human traffickers, drug traffickers [or] potential terrorists. These are the people that we really need to keep out of our country."

McLaughlin said funding from the "big beautiful bill" would help rack up the mass deportations favored by U.S. voters. During his 2016 and 2024 presidential campaigns, Trump campaigned on mass deportations, cracking down on illegal immigration and building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

McLaughlin said the administration is keeping all options on the table when it comes to cracking down on border security.

In 2023, Texas began to install a floating barrier along the Rio Grande in order to stop migrants from crossing into the U.S. illegally.  "I think we're keeping everything on the table," she said. "We're also looking at those buoys as well, preventing anyone from coming over...from swimming over in shallow water. But what we want, really, is that physical infrastructure."

Arrest numbers close to 250,000

The Texas barrier resulted in a rapid challenge from President Joe Biden's Justice Department and protests from the Mexican government. McLaughlin said that as of now, the Trump administration has deported about 250,000 illegal migrants, but wants the number to increase.

"Our arrest numbers, as they stand, are about 250,000, and we want those numbers up," she said. "We want to turbocharge them. That's part of the reason why that big full bill is so important, because it increases our detention capacity to 100,000 beds."