House Lawmakers Call for Port Evaluations in Immigration Legislation
House Reps. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, and Steve Pearce, R-N.M., introduced legislation in recent days to require the Department of Homeland Security to submit a report to Congress on the conditions of U.S. ports of entry. The bill, HR-3576 (here), is primarily designed to create an independent body, which would be called the Department of Homeland Security Border Oversight Commission, to monitor and evaluate immigration policies and practices. That part of the legislation directs the president and Congress to collaborate to appoint representatives from border regions, including CBP or Border Patrol agents, to make up the commission. The bill creates a new DHS ombudsman for border and immigration concerns, as well as a number of other administrative changes and training reform.
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The port of entry portion of the bill directs the DHS report to Congress within 180 days of enactment. The legislation requires the report to focus on the following areas:
- Current staffing levels and the need for additional staffing at POEs
- Rules governing the actions of the Office of Field Operations employees
- Average delay of transit through a POE disaggregated for air, land, and sea
- An assessment of how existing technologies used for border security affect the facilitation of trade at POEs, civil rights, private property rights, privacy rights, and civil liberties
- An assessment of the economic impact of CBP Agricultural Specialists
- Physical infrastructure and technological needs at ports of entry