A tragedy is unfolding in Texas as thousands of illegal immigrants are pouring over the southern border. Alex Nowrasteh has examined the immigration statistics here.

But in this blog, let’s take a look at the budget situation. The chart below shows that total Border Patrol (BP) spending has more than tripled since 2000, from $1.1 billion to $3.5 billion, according to this BP website. That spending is within broader Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spending of about $12 billion a year currently. A breakdown of the CBP budget is on page 49 here.