Last night, Congresswoman Debbie Lesko’s (AZ-08) national security bill, H.R. 6400—the United States Ports of Entry Threat and Operational Review Act, passed out of the U.S. Senate and now heads to President Trump’s desk to be signed into law. Congresswoman Lesko’s bill will help secure our border and nation by protecting our air, land, and sea ports of entry from illegal activity. It will also improve the flow of commerce that is vital to our economy and update infrastructure at ports of entry that were designed 40 to 50 years ago.

Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (AZ-08): “One of my highest priorities in Congress is protecting our citizens and securing our borders, so I’m thrilled that my bipartisan bill focusing on our ports of entry will be my first bill signed into law by President Trump. Protecting our citizens requires us to look internally. Our ports of entry can be exploited by criminals, cartels, and transnational gangs who seek to bring in illicit drugs and exploit vulnerable women and children.”

Background: In July, Congresswoman Debbie Lesko introduced H.R. 6400, the United States Ports of Entry Threat and Operational Review Act, which was unanimously approved by the House Homeland Security Committee on July 24, 2018 and passed out of the House on September 4, 2018.

H.R. 6400 requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to do two things: (1) conduct a ports of entry threat and operational analysis of all United States air, land, and sea ports; and (2) create a ports of entry threat and operational strategy and implementation plan.

The contents of theanalysis shall include an assessment of:

• Current and potential threats
• Methods and pathways used to exploit security vulnerabilities
• Improvements needed to prevent the unlawful movement of people, illicit drugs, and other contraband across the border of the United States
• Improvements needed to enhance travel and trade facilitation, and reduce wait times
• Processes conducted at the ports of entry that do not require law enforcement training that could be filled with non-law enforcement staff, the private sector, or automated

The Secretary shall also consider the following in the analysis: Personnel needs and estimated costs; Technology needs and estimated costs; Infrastructure needs and estimated costs.

The contents of the strategy and implementation plan shall include a consideration of the ports of entry threat and operational analysis. It shall also include Department efforts to:

• Reduce wait times
• Prevent the unlawful movement of people, illicit drugs, and other contraband across the borders of the United States at the earliest possible point at ports
• Focus intelligence collection and information analysis to disrupt transnational criminal organizations attempting to exploit vulnerabilities
• Verify that any new port of entry technology acquisition can be operationally integrated with existing technologies in use by DHS
• Identify and detect fraudulent documents
• Prevent, detect, investigate, and mitigate corruption

The strategy and implementation plan shall also include the standards against which the effectiveness of the aforementioned efforts may be determined