Rep. Debbie Lesko’s bill on border security sent to president’s desk

PHOENIX – A border security bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Debbie Lesko of Arizona is heading to the president’s desk after passing the Senate on Wednesday.

The United States Ports of Entry Threat and Operational Review Act would direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to analyze the vulnerabilities at U.S. points of entry and submit a report to Congress.

“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,” Lesko said in a press release.

The Phoenix Republican introduced the bill in July, and it passed the House in September.

Both chambers approved the bill by voice votes.

Once it’s signed into law, the federal border agency will have 180 days to provide an operational analysis of air, land and sea ports of entry that includes assessments 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.

In addition, the agency will devise a strategy to deal with the threats that includes 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.

An education bill Lesko introduced in June never made it out of committee.

That was her first bill after winning an April special election to replace Trent Franks, who resigned after allegedly discussing surrogacy with at least two staffers.

Lesko won re-election to her first full term in November.

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