The House Homeland Security Committee Wednesday night completed its markup of new border security legislation that prescribes a wide range of technology solutions and requires the Department of Homeland Security to begin deploying biometric exit solutions at the nation’s busiest air, land and sea ports within two years of enactment.
The Secure Our Borders First Act of 2015 (H.R. 399) bill was approved by an 18-12 vote with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed. A similar version of the bill (S. 208) was introduced in the Senate earlier this week (Defense Daily, Jan. 22).
The House panel’s bill also requires DHS to achieve operational control of some parts of the southwest border in two years and the entire southwest border in five years and establishes a Border Security Verification Commission to certify that border is under control.
The bill is first in the House aimed at addressing Republican disenchantment with the Obama administration’s border security efforts and immigration reform plans.
Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the author of the bill, and Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a joint statement on Thursday that the legislation is part of a “step-by-step” approach driven by House Republicans “to deliver on these long overdue promises made to the American people so that we gain operational control of our borders and guarantee that our immigration laws be enforced moving forward.”
McCaul and Goodlatte also stated that the Judiciary panel “will work on legislation to deliver results on interior enforcement, such as mandatory electronic verification of employment eligibility, addressing fraud in the asylum system, and allowing state and local law enforcement to help in enforcing our laws.”
During Wednesday night’s markup, the Homeland Security Committee approved a number of Republican amendments, including:
- A measure by Rep. Lou Barletta (Pa.) to require DHS to submit to Congress reports and recommendations of biometric exit pilots conducted by the Science and Technology Directorate and Customs and Border Protection;
- A provision by Rep. John Katko (N.Y.) to require the Border Patrol to deploy additional capabilities to the northern border in a risk based manner within 18 months of enactment;
- An amendment by Rep. John Ratcliffe (Texas) requiring CBP’s Air and Marine Office to submit an annual report on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) effectiveness and use by mission;
- A measure by Rep. Scott Perry (Pa.) to add a security metric for Air and Marine operations requiring a detailed description of how, where, and for how long data and images taken by UAVs are collected and stored;
- An amendment by Rep. Martha McSally (Ariz.) requiring that Border Patrol personnel are deployed as close to the physical land border as possible, that the maximum practical number of agents are deployed to forward operating bases, and that a rapid reaction capability is part of the required prescribed capability deployment provisions in the bill;
- A measure by Rep. Mike Rogers (Ala.) requiring the last of the mandated 700 miles of fencing is deployed along the southwest border.