II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3591 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 16, 2024 

Mr. CASEY (for himself, Mr. LUJA ́N, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Ms. ROSEN, Ms. 

BALDWIN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. WARNER, Mr. KELLY, and Mr. BROWN) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

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’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FUNDING. 

2 (a) ENHANCING LAW ENFORCEMENT CAPABILITIES

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

4 money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the 

5 Department of Homeland Security for the fiscal year end6 ing September 30, 2025, $3,409,000,000, to remain avail7 able until September 30, 2027, to support and enhance 

8 law enforcement capabilities at land borders of the United 

9 States, of which— 

10 (1) $300,000,000 shall be for additional civilian 

11 U.S. Border Patrol processing coordinators; 

12 (2) $1,750,000,000 shall be for additional U.S. 

13 Customs and Border Protection officers, U.S. Bor14 der Patrol agents, and mission support staff within 

15 the Office of Field Operations and U.S. Border Pa16 trol; 

17 (3) $950,000,000 shall be for hiring bonuses, 

18 retention bonuses, and retention-focused support 

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

20 Customs and Border Protection officers, U.S. Bor21 der Patrol agents, U.S. Border Patrol processing co22 ordinators, and any other U.S. Customs and Border 

23 Protection staff whose work supports operations at 

24 the land borders of the United States; and 

25 (4) $409,000,000 shall be for ‘‘U.S. Citizenship 

26 and Immigration Services–Operations and Support’’ 


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1 to contribute to improved operations along the land 

2 borders of the United States. 

3 (b) INCREASING FENTANYL INTERDICTION AND EN4 HANCING PROCESSING CAPABILITIES AT THE BORDER.— 

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

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

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

8 $1,090,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 

9 2027, to increase drug interdiction and processing capa10 bilities at land borders of the United States, of which— 

11 (1) $960,000,000 shall be for technology im12 provements and upgrades, which may include— 

13 (A) the procurement and deployment of 

14 large-scale, small-scale, and handheld non-intru15 sive inspection scanning systems at ports of 

16 entry along the land borders of the United 

17 States; and 

18 (B) upgrades to the information technology 

19 infrastructure upon which these systems and 

20 associated software are operated; 

21 (2) $30,000,000 shall be for technological and 

22 procedural improvements to the process of analyzing 

23 and adjudicating images from non-intrusive inspec24 tion scanning technology at land ports of entry, 

25 which may include support for the continued develVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:07 Jan 18, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3591.IS S3591

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1 opment of anomaly detection algorithms to enhance 

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

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

4 and infrastructure upgrades that the Commissioner 

5 for U.S. Customs and Border Protection deems nec6 essary for the agency’s drug interdiction work. 

7 (c) DISRUPTING THE OUTBOUND FLOW OF FIRE8 ARMS AND CURRENCY FROM THE UNITED STATES.— 

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

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

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

12 $285,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 

13 2027, for increasing outbound inspection capabilities, in14 cluding disrupting the flow of firearms and currency out 

15 of the United States, of which— 

16 (1) $10,000,000 shall be for supporting the cre17 ation of a structured outbound inspection program 

18 within the Office of Field Operations that includes 

19 a comprehensive outbound inspection policy and per20 formance metrics to measure the impact of outbound 

21 inspections; and 

22 (2) $275,000,000 shall be for outbound inspec23 tions infrastructure projects at the land borders of 

24 the United States, including— 


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1 (A) technology and connectivity improve2 ments at rural ports of entry; and 

3 (B) safety and technology upgrades to out4 bound inspection lanes at ports of entry. 

5 (d) DISRUPTING TRANSNATIONAL FENTANYL NET6 WORKS.—There is appropriated, out of any money in the 

7 Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the fiscal year 

8 ending September 30, 2025— 

9 (1) $223,000,000, to remain available until 

10 September 30, 2027, to U.S. Immigration and Cus11 toms Enforcement to expand efforts to interdict 

12 fentanyl and other illegal drugs, and disrupt net13 works operated by transnational criminal organiza14 tions within the United States, of which— 

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

16 Homeland Security Investigations special 

17 agents; 

18 (B) $80,000,000 shall be for the imple19 mentation of Homeland Security Investigations’ 

20 Strategy for Combating Illicit Opioids; and 

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

22 operations along the land borders of the United 

23 States by Homeland Security Investigations and 

24 U.S. Customs and Border Protection; 


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1 (2) $128,000,000, to remain available until 

2 September 30, 2027, to the Drug Enforcement Ad3 ministration, of which— 

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

5 expenses relating to increased law enforcement 

6 activities along the land borders of the United 

7 States; and 

8 (B) $60,000,000 shall be for the High In9 tensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program; 

10 (3) $110,000,000, to remain available until 

11 September 30, 2027, to the Department of Justice 

12 for the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task 

13 Forces; and 

14 (4) $50,000,000, to remain available until Sep15 tember 30, 2027, to the U.S. Marshals Service for 

16 salaries and expenses relating to increased law en17 forcement activities along the land borders of the 

18 United States. 

19 SEC. 3. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

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

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

22 Commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection 

23 shall submit a report to Congress that— 

24 (1) details the impacts of Border Patrol Proc25 essing Coordinator positions; and 


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1 (2) describes how such positions are supporting 

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

3 (b) REPORT ON NEW OUTBOUND INSPECTIONS PRO4 GRAM.—Not later than March 31, 2028, the Executive As5 sistant Commissioner of the Office of Field Operations of 

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

7 to Congress that details the equipment that would be 

8 needed to establish a permanent outbound inspections pro9 gram to increase the rate of scanning of motor vehicles 

10 departing the United States. 

11 (c) REPORT ON EXISTING AND PLANNED SCANNING

12 TECHNOLOGY.—Not later than March 31, 2028, the Exec13 utive Assistant Commissioner of the Office of Field Oper14 ations of U.S. Customs and Border Protection shall sub15 mit a report to Congress that details, for each United 

16 States land port of entry— 

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

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

19 (2) the major factors to consider regarding the 

20 future procurement and deployment of large-scale, 

21 non-intrusive inspection machines at the port of 

22 entry, including— 

23 (A) existing limitations, including— 

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


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1 (ii) land that is available for use by 

2 U.S. Customs and Border Protection at 

3 the port of entry; and 

4 (iii) any geological or environmental 

5 factors that would affect construction 

6 timelines or costs; 

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

8 port of entry, and an estimate of the potential 

9 impacts of additional large-scale, non-intrusive 

10 inspection systems being deployed, in terms of 

11 additional seizures and impacts on transit 

12 times; and 

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

14 deploying additional large-scale non-intrusive 

15 inspection systems at the port of entry. 

16 SEC. 4. PENALTIES FOR HINDERING IMMIGRATION, BOR17 DER, AND CUSTOMS CONTROLS. 

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

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

20 1321 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 274D 

21 the following: 

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

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

24 and without lawful authorization— 


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

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

3 electronic device deployed by the Federal Govern4 ment to control an international border of, or a port 

5 of entry to, the United States; or 

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

7 any structure intended to defeat, circumvent or 

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

9 physical or electronic device deployed by the Federal 

10 Government to control an international border of, or 

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

12 ‘‘(2) in carrying out an act described in para13 graph (1), have the intent to knowingly and will14 fully— 

15 ‘‘(A) secure a financial gain; 

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

17 organization; and 

18 ‘‘(C) violate— 

19 ‘‘(i) section 274(a)(1)(A)(i); 

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

21 the United States (as defined in section 

22 2(4) of the Trade Facilitation and Trade 

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

24 4301(4))); 


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1 ‘‘(iii) any other Federal law relating 

2 to transporting controlled substances, agri3 culture, or monetary instruments into the 

4 United States; or 

5 ‘‘(iv) any Federal law relating to bor6 der control measures of the United States. 

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

8 (a) shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, im9 prisoned for not more than 5 years, or both.’’. 

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

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

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

13 to section 274D the following: 

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

Æ 


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