Obama signs border bill adding 1,200 new employees

President Obama signed a $600 million measure Friday to beef up federal personnel and resources deployed to secure the border with Mexico.

The law provides funding for 1,000 Border Patrol agents and 200 special agents, investigators and intelligence analysts at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau. The measure also funds technology upgrades, such as new communications equipment and unmanned surveillance aircraft.

In a statement, Obama said the legislation "answers my call to bolster the essential work of federal law enforcement officials and improve their ability to partner with state, local and tribal law enforcement. The resources made available through this legislation will build upon our successful efforts to protect communities along the Southwest border and across the country."

The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents thousands of Homeland Security Department workers, praised the measure.

"AFGE has long argued for more staffing and funding at both the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement," said the organization's president, John Gage. "We applaud members of Congress for working so quickly at getting additional staffing put through, and President Obama for quickly signing it into law."

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., also backed the measure, but said it didn't go far enough. The law, he said, "does not include nearly enough funding for the other priorities we have been fighting for, including, for example, funding to fully implement Operation Streamline in the Tucson Border Patrol Sector, funding to dramatically increase the number of Customs inspectors at ports of entry in both the Tucson and Yuma areas, and funding to double the capacity of the Law Enforcement Support Center, which provides information about immigration status to federal, state, and local law enforcement officials."