II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1004 

To increase the number of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of 

Field Operations officers and support staff and to require reports that 

identify staffing, infrastructure, and equipment needed to enhance security at ports of entry. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 3, 2019 

Mr. PETERS (for himself and Mr. CORNYN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To increase the number of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations officers and support staff 

and to require reports that identify staffing, infrastructure, and equipment needed to enhance security at ports 

of entry. 

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 ‘‘Securing America’s 

5 Ports of Entry Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTEC2 TION PERSONNEL. 

3 (a) OFFICERS.—The Commissioner of U.S. Customs 

4 and Border Protection shall hire, train, and assign not 

5 fewer than 600 new Office of Field Operations officers 

6 above the current attrition level during every fiscal year 

7 until the total number of Office of Field Operations offi8 cers equals and sustains the requirements identified each 

9 year in the Workload Staffing Model. 

10 (b) SUPPORT STAFF.—The Commissioner is author11 ized to hire, train, and assign support staff, including 

12 technicians, to perform non-law enforcement administra13 tive functions to support the new Office of Field Oper14 ations officers hired pursuant to subsection (a). 

15 (c) TRAFFIC FORECASTS.—In calculating the number 

16 of Office of Field Operations officers needed at each port 

17 of entry through the Workload Staffing Model, the Office 

18 of Field Operations shall— 

19 (1) rely on data collected regarding the inspec20 tions and other activities conducted at each such 

21 port of entry; and 

22 (2) consider volume from seasonal surges, other 

23 projected changes in commercial and passenger vol24 umes, the most current commercial forecasts, and 

25 other relevant information. 


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1 (d) GAO REPORT.—If the Commissioner does not 

2 hire the 600 additional Office of Field Operations officers 

3 authorized under subsection (a) during fiscal year 2020, 

4 or during any subsequent fiscal year in which the hiring 

5 requirements set forth in the Workload Staffing Model 

6 have not been achieved, the Comptroller General of the 

7 United States shall— 

8 (1) conduct a review of U.S. Customs and Bor9 der Protection hiring practices to determine the rea10 sons that such requirements were not achieved and 

11 other issues related to hiring by U.S. Customs and 

12 Border Protection; and 

13 (2) submit a report to the Committee on Home14 land Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen15 ate and the Committee on Homeland Security of the 

16 House of Representatives that describes the results 

17 of the review conducted under paragraph (1). 

18 SEC. 3. PORTS OF ENTRY INFRASTRUCTURE ENHANCE19 MENT REPORT. 

20 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact21 ment of this Act, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and 

22 Border Protection shall submit a report to the Committee 

23 on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 

24 Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security of the 

25 House of Representatives that identifies— 


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1 (1) infrastructure improvements at ports of 

2 entry that would enhance the ability of Office of 

3 Field Operations officers to interdict opioids and 

4 other drugs that are being illegally transported into 

5 the United States, including a description of cir6 cumstances at specific ports of entry that prevent 

7 the deployment of technology used at other ports of 

8 entry; 

9 (2) detection equipment that would improve the 

10 ability of such officers to identify opioids, including 

11 precursors and derivatives, that are being illegally 

12 transported into the United States; and 

13 (3) safety equipment that would protect such 

14 officers from accidental exposure to such drugs or 

15 other dangers associated with the inspection of po16 tential drug traffickers. 

17 SEC. 4. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

18 (a) TEMPORARY DUTY ASSIGNMENTS.— 

19 (1) QUARTERLY REPORT.—The Commissioner 

20 of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in consulta21 tion with the Executive Assistant Commissioner of 

22 the Office of Field Operations, shall submit a quar23 terly report to the appropriate congressional commit24 tees that includes, for the reporting period— 


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1 (A) the number of temporary duty assign2 ments; 

3 (B) the number of U.S. Customs and Bor4 der Protection employees required for each tem5 porary duty assignment; 

6 (C) the ports of entry from which such em7 ployees were reassigned; 

8 (D) the ports of entry to which such em9 ployees were reassigned; 

10 (E) the ports of entry at which reimburs11 able service agreements have been entered into 

12 that may be affected by temporary duty assign13 ments; 

14 (F) the duration of each temporary duty 

15 assignment; and 

16 (G) the cost of each temporary duty as17 signment. 

18 (2) SOUTHWEST BORDER.—The report required 

19 under paragraph (1) shall identify, with respect to 

20 each of the statistics described in subparagraphs (A) 

21 through (G) of such paragraph, information relating 

22 to preventing or responding to illegal entries along 

23 the southwest border of the United States, including 

24 the costs relating to temporary redeployments along 

25 the southwest border. 


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1 (3) NOTICE.—Not later than 10 days before re2 deploying employees from 1 port of entry to another, 

3 absent emergency circumstances— 

4 (A) the Commissioner of U.S. Customs 

5 and Border Protection shall notify the director 

6 of the port of entry from which employees will 

7 be reassigned of the intended redeployments; 

8 and 

9 (B) the port director shall notify impacted 

10 facilities (including airports, seaports, and land 

11 ports) of the intended redeployments. 

12 (4) STAFF BRIEFING.—The Commissioner of 

13 U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in consulta14 tion with the Assistant Commissioner of the Office 

15 of Field Operations, shall brief all affected U.S. Cus16 toms and Border Protection employees regarding 

17 plans to mitigate vulnerabilities created by any 

18 planned staffing reductions at ports of entry. 

19 (b) REIMBURSABLE SERVICES AGREEMENTS QUAR20 TERLY REPORT.—The Commissioner of U.S. Customs and 

21 Border Protection shall submit a quarterly report to the 

22 appropriate congressional committees regarding the use of 

23 reimbursable service agreements by U.S. Customs and 

24 Border Protection, which shall include— 


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1 (1) the governmental or private entities with an 

2 active reimbursable service agreement, including the 

3 locations at which the contracted services are being 

4 performed; 

5 (2) a description of the factors that were con6 sidered before entering into each of the active reim7 bursable service agreements referred to in paragraph 

8 (1); 

9 (3) the number of hours that U.S. Customs and 

10 Border Protection Officers worked during the re11 porting period in fulfillment of responsibilities 

12 agreed to under each of the reimbursable service 

13 agreements; and 

14 (4) the total costs incurred by U.S. Customs 

15 and Border Protection relating to each reimbursable 

16 service agreement, including the amount of such 

17 costs that were reimbursed by the contracted entity. 

18 (c) ANNUAL WORKLOAD STAFFING MODEL RE19 PORT.—As part of the Annual Report on Staffing required 

20 under section 411(g)(5)(A) of the Homeland Security Act 

21 of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 211(g)(5)(A)), the Commissioner shall 

22 include— 

23 (1) information concerning the progress made 

24 toward meeting the Office of Field Operations offiVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:37 Apr 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1004.IS S1004

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1 cer and support staff hiring targets set forth in sec2 tion 2, while accounting for attrition; 

3 (2) an update to the information provided in 

4 the Resource Optimization at the Ports of Entry re5 port, which was submitted to Congress on Sep6 tember 12, 2017, pursuant to the Department of 

7 Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2017 (divi8 sion F of Public Law 115–31); and 

9 (3) a summary of the information included in 

10 the quarterly reports required under subsections (a) 

11 and (b). 

12 (d) DEFINED TERM.—In this section, the term ‘‘ap13 propriate congressional committees’’ means— 

14 (1) the Committee on Homeland Security and 

15 Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 

16 (2) the Committee on Appropriations of the 

17 Senate; 

18 (3) the Committee on Homeland Security of the 

19 House of Representatives; and 

20 (4) the Committee on Appropriations of the 

21 House of Representatives. 

22 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

23 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

24 this Act— 

25 (1) $80,908,929 for fiscal year 2020; and 


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1 (2) $97,132,268 for each of the fiscal years 

2 2021 through 2026. 

Æ 


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