SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — Coast Guard Station San Diego’s motto is “Guardians of the Southwest,” but Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says it doesn’t have the proper amount of resources to properly guard the maritime border with Mexico.

Noem made those comments Tuesday morning during a congressional appropriations meeting calling for $21 billion to help the Coast Guard fulfill its mission.

“The Coast Guard has been neglected for many, many years,” Noem told the committee.

She testified the agency needs the money for technology, equipment and personnel to be able to interdict drugs and undocumented migrants coming into the U.S. via the water.

“The Coast Guard is seeing much more traffic, they’re also seeing the cartel activity out there trafficking of drugs and human beings and the technology they’re having a difficult time keeping up with — we can’t neglect the fact that we have needs there and we don’t have the airframe and we don’t have the cutters to keep up and even to manage and maintain the horsepower to catch and interdict some of the smuggling activities that are going on.”

Noem stated the Coast Guard, for fiscal year 2025, has already surpassed 2024 in terms of interdictions for drugs and migrant search and rescues on the water.

“The U.S. Coast Guard is a central pillar of American national security and power projection. As a military service and law enforcement organization, the Coast Guard faces a unique set of operational challenges and opportunities, necessitating a unique posture for rapid response to a variety of evolving missions with a modernized fleet that supports these requirements.”