I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8992 

Making appropriations to improve border security, imposing new reporting 

requirements relating to border security, and enhancing criminal penalties 

for destroying or evading border controls. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 10, 2024 

Mr. VASQUEZ (for himself, Mrs. CHAVEZ-DEREMER, and Mr. SORENSEN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Appropriations 

A BILL 

Making appropriations to improve border security, imposing 

new reporting requirements relating to border security, 

and enhancing criminal penalties for destroying or evading border controls. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Fentanyl at the 

5 Border Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FUNDING. 

7 (a) ENHANCING LAW ENFORCEMENT CAPABILITIES

8 AT THE BORDER.—There is appropriated, out of any 


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1 money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the 

2 Department of Homeland Security for the fiscal year end3 ing September 30, 2025, $3,409,000,000, to remain avail4 able until September 30, 2027, to support and enhance 

5 law enforcement capabilities at land borders of the United 

6 States, of which— 

7 (1) $300,000,000 shall be for additional civilian 

8 U.S. Border Patrol processing coordinators; 

9 (2) $1,750,000,000 shall be for additional U.S. 

10 Customs and Border Protection officers, U.S. Bor11 der Patrol agents, and mission support staff within 

12 the Office of Field Operations and U.S. Border Pa13 trol; 

14 (3) $950,000,000 shall be for hiring bonuses, 

15 retention bonuses, and retention-focused support 

16 services, including mental health services, for U.S. 

17 Customs and Border Protection officers, U.S. Bor18 der Patrol agents, U.S. Border Patrol processing co19 ordinators, and any other U.S. Customs and Border 

20 Protection staff whose work supports operations at 

21 the land borders of the United States; and 

22 (4) $409,000,000 shall be for ‘‘U.S. Citizenship 

23 and Immigration Services–Operations and Support’’ 

24 to contribute to improved operations along the land 

25 borders of the United States. 


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1 (b) INCREASING FENTANYL INTERDICTION AND EN2 HANCING PROCESSING CAPABILITIES AT THE BORDER.— 

3 There is appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury 

4 not otherwise appropriated, for U.S. Customs and Border 

5 Protection for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025, 

6 $1,090,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 

7 2027, to increase drug interdiction and processing capa8 bilities at land borders of the United States, of which— 

9 (1) $960,000,000 shall be for technology im10 provements and upgrades, which may include— 

11 (A) the procurement and deployment of 

12 large-scale, small-scale, and handheld non-intru13 sive inspection scanning systems at ports of 

14 entry along the land borders of the United 

15 States; and 

16 (B) upgrades to the information technology 

17 infrastructure upon which these systems and 

18 associated software are operated; 

19 (2) $30,000,000 shall be for technological and 

20 procedural improvements to the process of analyzing 

21 and adjudicating images from non-intrusive inspec22 tion scanning technology at land ports of entry, 

23 which may include support for the continued devel24 opment of anomaly detection algorithms to enhance 

25 detection of illegal drugs at land ports of entry; and 


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1 (3) $100,000,000 shall be for other technology 

2 and infrastructure upgrades that the Commissioner 

3 for U.S. Customs and Border Protection deems nec4 essary for the agency’s drug interdiction work. 

5 (c) DISRUPTING THE OUTBOUND FLOW OF FIRE6 ARMS AND CURRENCY FROM THE UNITED STATES.— 

7 There is appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury 

8 not otherwise appropriated, for U.S. Customs and Border 

9 Protection for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025, 

10 $285,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 

11 2027, for increasing outbound inspection capabilities, in12 cluding disrupting the flow of firearms and currency out 

13 of the United States, of which— 

14 (1) $10,000,000 shall be for supporting the cre15 ation of a structured outbound inspection program 

16 within the Office of Field Operations that includes 

17 a comprehensive outbound inspection policy and per18 formance metrics to measure the impact of outbound 

19 inspections; and 

20 (2) $275,000,000 shall be for outbound inspec21 tions infrastructure projects at the land borders of 

22 the United States, including— 

23 (A) technology and connectivity improve24 ments at rural ports of entry; and 


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1 (B) safety and technology upgrades to out2 bound inspection lanes at ports of entry. 

3 (d) DISRUPTING TRANSNATIONAL FENTANYL NET4 WORKS.—There is appropriated, out of any money in the 

5 Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the fiscal year 

6 ending September 30, 2025— 

7 (1) $223,000,000, to remain available until 

8 September 30, 2027, to U.S. Immigration and Cus9 toms Enforcement to expand efforts to interdict 

10 fentanyl and other illegal drugs, and disrupt net11 works operated by transnational criminal organiza12 tions within the United States, of which— 

13 (A) $113,000,000 shall be for additional 

14 Homeland Security Investigations special 

15 agents; 

16 (B) $80,000,000 shall be for the imple17 mentation of Homeland Security Investigations’ 

18 Strategy for Combating Illicit Opioids; and 

19 (C) $30,000,000 shall be for joint surge 

20 operations along the land borders of the United 

21 States by Homeland Security Investigations and 

22 U.S. Customs and Border Protection; 

23 (2) $128,000,000, to remain available until 

24 September 30, 2027, to the Drug Enforcement Ad25 ministration, of which— 


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1 (A) $68,000,000 shall be for salaries and 

2 expenses relating to increased law enforcement 

3 activities along the land borders of the United 

4 States; and 

5 (B) $60,000,000 shall be for the High In6 tensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program; 

7 (3) $110,000,000, to remain available until 

8 September 30, 2027, to the Department of Justice 

9 for the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task 

10 Forces; and 

11 (4) $50,000,000, to remain available until Sep12 tember 30, 2027, to the U.S. Marshals Service for 

13 salaries and expenses relating to increased law en14 forcement activities along the land borders of the 

15 United States. 

16 SEC. 3. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

17 (a) REPORT ON U.S. BORDER PATROL PROCESSING

18 COORDINATORS.—Not later than March 31, 2028, the 

19 Commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection 

20 shall submit a report to Congress that— 

21 (1) details the impacts of Border Patrol Proc22 essing Coordinator positions; and 

23 (2) describes how such positions are supporting 

24 the mission of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 


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1 (b) REPORT ON NEW OUTBOUND INSPECTIONS PRO2 GRAM.—Not later than March 31, 2028, the Executive As3 sistant Commissioner of the Office of Field Operations of 

4 U.S. Customs and Border Protection shall submit a report 

5 to Congress that details the equipment that would be 

6 needed to establish a permanent outbound inspections pro7 gram to increase the rate of scanning of motor vehicles 

8 departing the United States. 

9 (c) REPORT ON EXISTING AND PLANNED SCANNING

10 TECHNOLOGY.—Not later than March 31, 2028, the Exec11 utive Assistant Commissioner of the Office of Field Oper12 ations of U.S. Customs and Border Protection shall sub13 mit a report to Congress that details, for each United 

14 States land port of entry— 

15 (1) a summary of the non-intrusive inspection 

16 technology that is in use or is being built out; and 

17 (2) the major factors to consider regarding the 

18 future procurement and deployment of large-scale, 

19 non-intrusive inspection machines at the port of 

20 entry, including— 

21 (A) existing limitations, including— 

22 (i) the footprint of the port of entry; 

23 (ii) land that is available for use by 

24 U.S. Customs and Border Protection at 

25 the port of entry; and 


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1 (iii) any geological or environmental 

2 factors that would affect construction 

3 timelines or costs; 

4 (B) the volume and modes of traffic at the 

5 port of entry, and an estimate of the potential 

6 impacts of additional large-scale, non-intrusive 

7 inspection systems being deployed, in terms of 

8 additional seizures and impacts on transit 

9 times; and 

10 (C) an analysis of the cost-effectiveness of 

11 deploying additional large-scale non-intrusive 

12 inspection systems at the port of entry. 

13 SEC. 4. PENALTIES FOR HINDERING IMMIGRATION, BOR14 DER, AND CUSTOMS CONTROLS. 

15 (a) PERSONNEL AND STRUCTURES.—Chapter 8 of 

16 title II of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

17 1321 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 274D 

18 the following: 

19 ‘‘SEC. 274E. DESTROYING OR EVADING BORDER CONTROLS. 

20 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful to knowingly 

21 and without lawful authorization— 

22 ‘‘(1)(A) destroy or significantly damage any 

23 fence, barrier, sensor, camera, or other physical or 

24 electronic device deployed by the Federal GovernVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Jul 11, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8992.IH H8992

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1 ment to control an international border of, or a port 

2 of entry to, the United States; or 

3 ‘‘(B) otherwise construct, excavate, or make 

4 any structure intended to defeat, circumvent or 

5 evade such a fence, barrier, sensor camera, or other 

6 physical or electronic device deployed by the Federal 

7 Government to control an international border of, or 

8 a port of entry to, the United States; and 

9 ‘‘(2) in carrying out an act described in para10 graph (1), have the intent to knowingly and will11 fully— 

12 ‘‘(A) secure a financial gain; 

13 ‘‘(B) further the objectives of a criminal 

14 organization; and 

15 ‘‘(C) violate— 

16 ‘‘(i) section 274(a)(1)(A)(i); 

17 ‘‘(ii) the customs and trade laws of 

18 the United States (as defined in section 

19 2(4) of the Trade Facilitation and Trade 

20 Enforcement Act of 2015 (19 U.S.C. 

21 4301(4))); 

22 ‘‘(iii) any other Federal law relating 

23 to transporting controlled substances, agri24 culture, or monetary instruments into the 

25 United States; or 


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1 ‘‘(iv) any Federal law relating to bor2 der control measures of the United States. 

3 ‘‘(b) PENALTY.—Any person who violates subsection 

4 (a) shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, im5 prisoned for not more than 5 years, or both.’’. 

6 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

7 for the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 

8 et seq.) is amended by inserting after the item relating 

9 to section 274D the following: 

‘‘Sec. 274E. Destroying or evading border controls.’’. 

Æ 


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