FBI cites Hamas attack as justification for $11.4 billion budget request

Among the things that the FBI is citing in an effort to justify its request for an $11.386 billion 2024 budget is Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel.

“The recent, brutal Hamas attack against Israel reminded anyone who had forgotten the threat of terrorism is real and dangerous—both abroad and right here at home,” the bureau stated.

The bureau added that it is “responding to increased threats to the homeland from both international terrorist organizations and lone actors focused on targeting faith-based communities.”

“The FBI is also tracking and countering potential terrorist threats from individuals who enter the country unlawfully, including over the southern border—a monumental task given the often sparse information available on their whereabouts and associates,” it added.

During U.S. President Joe Biden’s “State of the Union” address on March 7, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) heckled the president and demanded that he say Laken Riley’s name. After mistakenly saying “Lanken Riley,” Biden referred to the “innocent young woman who was killed.” Greene insisted: “By an illegal!”

“By an illegal. That’s right,” Biden said. “But how many of thousands of people are being killed by legals?”

Asked to clarify his “illegal” comment on March 8 at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Biden said, “Well, I probably—I don’t re-—technically not supposed to be here.”

Jonathan Capehart, of MSNBC, asked the president about his use of the term “illegal.” A reporter asked Olivia Dalton, principal deputy White House press secretary, about the MSNBC interview on March 11 aboard Air Force One. The reporter said that Biden had apologized.

“Well, first of all, I want to be really clear about something. The president absolutely did not apologize. There was no apology anywhere in that conversation. He did not apologize,” Dalton said. “He used a different word.”

“And beyond that, I think it’s unconscionable that there are some people who are playing politics with this young woman’s tragic murder—and particularly at a time when, let’s not forget, House Republicans are standing in the way of a bipartisan border security agreement that is the toughest bill we have ever seen in history,” Dalton said. “And they’re doing so because Donald Trump feels that the American people’s safety is less important than his personal politics. That’s the fact.”

Most Americans (57%) say that the large number of “migrants” seeking to enter the country leads to more crime—with 85% of Republicans and 31% of Democrats believing that, per a Feb. 15 Pew Research Center poll. Some 63% of Democrats do not think the influx has an impact on crime.

The new FBI budget, which the bureau says is a partial response to terrorists entering the country illegally, would fund 37,312 positions, 260 attorneys and 13,662 agents, per the FBI.

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