A wide ranging immigration reform bill introduced in the Senate this month that aims to boost border security while also providing a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants that are currently in the United States illegally would create a trust fund that includes $3 billion to be spent over five years for additional technology and personnel to help secure the border.
Through a $6.5 billion trust fund, $3 billion would be available for technologies on the Southern border such as mobile, video and agent-portable surveillance systems, unmanned aerial systems for around the clock operations, additional fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, upgrades to the existing helicopter fleet, more horse patrols in the Southwest Border region, and 3,500 more Customs and Border Protection Officers, according to the legislation.
The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (S. 744) would also rely on the trust fund to provide $1.5 billion for additional fencing in high-risk border sectors. CBP has already installed hundreds of miles of fencing and related tactical infrastructure along select stretches of the nation’s border with Mexico. The trust fund would go into effect on Oct. 1, 2013, and be provisioned from the general Treasury.
The immigration bill would also permit additional funds to be raised through various visa and immigration fees, some of which would be paid by employers of nonimmigrants and aliens.
The bill was crafted by a group of Democratic and Republican senators, referred to as the “Gang of Eight.” Despite its bipartisan craftsmanship—four Democrats and four Republicans negotiated the legislation—some conservative groups are lining up against the measure and some senators have already stated that they want a thorough airing of the bill rather than have it rushed through the Senate.
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, last week said on the Senate floor that the group behind the immigration bill “failed to consult with many members” of the committee although they have worked with a number of business and labor groups.
One of the bill’s supporters, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, says that he is in favor of investing resources into “force multipliers” that would enable better use of manpower used for border security.
Carper says that currently UAS operations on the Southern Border are limited to 16 hours a day for five days of the week and that operations are sometimes further limited when weather conditions prohibit them, such as winds of 15 knots or higher. He said UAS operations need to be better resourced.
Carper is also a proponent of additional acquisitions of an airborne radar system, called the VaDER, which CBP has tested on its Predator B UAS system. CBP has funding for two of the radar systems in its FY ’13 budget and is seeking two more in FY ’14. The radar system, developed by Northrop Grumman [NOC], can track small and slow moving targets better than traditional radar systems, which makes it valuable in the border security environment.
Carper is also a proponent of CBP buying more Cessna C-206 aircraft, which are relatively inexpensive compared with the Predator UAS, but can be very effective surveillance platforms when equipped with an imaging package. Cessna is part of Textron [TXT]. He also pointed to aerostats and ground-based surveillance radar, both of which are deployed along certain parts of the Southern border, as areas for continued investment.
The immigration reform bill also contains a provision to establish a mandatory data system to record the exit of all foreign nationals when they depart the U.S. The provision says that the system will collect data from machine-readable visas, passports, and other travel and entry documents for aliens leaving from air and sea ports of entry. It also says the system needs to be interoperable with various federal databases within the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice and State.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the exit data system is “doable.” She tells the House Homeland Security Committee that her department has already submitted a plan for an exit system based on enhanced biographic information with a longer term goal of including biometrics.
In its FY ’14 budget request, the Department of Homeland Security is seeking $351.5 million for CBP’s border security technology account, down from $399.4 million in FY ’13. The border security technology request includes $85.3 million for the Integrated Fixed Tower program, $54.3 million for modernizing tactical communications, and $37.4 million for the Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS) program, which the Defense Department is currently operating for CBP on the southwest border. Under the budget proposal, DHS will take ownership of TARS in FY ’14.
The border security request also includes $131.4 million for operations and maintenance of fielded systems, including surveillance technology and communication systems.
The proposed budget doesn’t include funding for additional Predator UAS, which are built by General Atomics. CBP currently has 10 of the aircraft.