Defense firms to benefit from Senate bill

The immigration reform bill, approved by the U.S. Senate last week, would provide defense manufacturers with millions of dollars in contracts.

The bill, which called for further security measures on border areas, would require the U.S. Border Patrol to purchase specific models of helicopters and radar equipment for development along borders, including the U.S.-Mexican border.

The list of equipment included in the legislation was specified by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency in 2010, said a senior Department of Homeland Security official.

According to The Washington Post, the U.S. Border Patrol now needs to buy at least six Northrop Grumman airborne radar systems that cost $9.3 million each, 15 Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopters that cost $17 million each, and eight light enforcement helicopters made by American Eurocopter that cost $3 million each.

Last week, the Senate passed the immigration bill that included a $46 billion border security package, a section which was added in the final week of negotiations at the upper chamber in an attempt to attract more GOP support for the Democratic-backed legislation.

Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.), who co-sponsored the plan, have said that the last moment deal at the Senate was aimed at pleasing the Republicans who were wary about creating a path to citizenship without tougher border measures.

As the law would require the government to spend billions of dollars to make tighter border security measures, many immigration experts consider the move wasteful and unnecessary.