DHS Illicit Cross-Border Tunnel Defense Act

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 4209, my bill, the DHS Illicit Cross-Border Tunnel Defense Act. I thank my colleague from New Jersey for his support.

It is important to say that this is one step. It is not the solution for all the problems that we face at our southern border, but it is one important piece.

Since President Biden took office in January 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has had over 2.2 million migrant encounters along the southwest border.

Due to the sheer numbers of migrants that are flooding across the border, CBP personnel, including Border Patrol agents, are often diverted from their essential jobs, their daily tasks to process migrants, most of whom crossed the United States-Mexico border illegally between ports of entry.

With Border Patrol agents occupied with other tasks and not patrolling the border, the security of our southwest border, and, therefore, the security of our Nation, has been crippled while cartels take full advantage.

In addition to the record number of migrant encounters, CBP has been interdicting growing quantities of illegal narcotics, especially methamphetamines, fentanyl, and other fentanyl-laced drugs, along the border.

For the first time, the United States has reached a tragic record, an unfortunate number of over 100,000 drug overdose deaths in a 1-year period. I want to repeat this: over 100,000 overdose deaths directly related to fentanyl in this past year, the most ever recorded in the United States. Additionally, according to the CDC, fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45.

In one of the communities that I represent, Odessa, Texas, law enforcement officials have reported 22 fentanyl overdoses in just 90 days. Parents nationwide are scared for their kids, and there is good reason for that fear. Fentanyl-related deaths nearly doubled the death rates from COVID-19, car accidents, cancer, and even suicide.

We need a plan, a strategy. A cornerstone of this strategy must be to stop the supply of drugs that are flowing into our country.

Mexico is now the primary source of fentanyl and synthetic opioids entering the United States. Of course, smuggling those drugs across the border comes with the risk of packages being seized by our border and law enforcement agencies. To minimize this risk, in 1989, the Sinaloa Cartel built their first-ever narco tunnel, as has been heard this morning on this House floor.

Back then, narco tunnels were short and unsophisticated. Over time, the cartels have learned and perfected these tunnels. They are longer, more sophisticated. They come with lights, with ventilation systems, with rail carts. They facilitate the movement of drugs and other illicit commodities, including the trafficking of people, bulk cash, and weapons.

Since 1990, law enforcement officials have discovered more than 230 of these cross-border tunnels, and there are likely more tunnels that exist between Mexico and the United States that are yet undiscovered. That is the heart of this bill.

CBP's tunnel technology program has matured over the years. Under the direction of U.S. Border Patrol, this program has been testing and acquiring technologies that do three essential things: predict tunnel locations, detect and project the paths of the tunnels, and confirm a tunnel's existence and location through mapping and measurements.

As CBP develops enhanced capabilities that will do the detection of the tunnels, drug cartels have become more emboldened, and they are creating more elaborate and harder-to-detect tunnel systems. Without this critical legislation, CBP truly lacks the ability to scale their tunnel interdiction and remediation operations.

The DHS Illicit Cross-Border Tunnel Defense Act addresses this issue by requiring CBP to develop a counter tunnel operations plan that would address risk-based criteria for interdicting and remediating illicit tunnels.

They will also look at the processes for sharing information on these tunnels, key indicators of tunnel construction to educate field personnel, and require an assessment of technology and personnel needs.

Additionally, this legislation would authorize funding for CBP to counter tunnel interdiction and remediation operations.

With the surge of illicit border activity both above and below ground, CBP needs resources to combat illicit cross-border tunnels to secure our homeland and protect our national security.

Passage of this legislation will disrupt and dismantle cartel smuggling operations, safeguarding American communities from the illegal narcotics problem that we see is completely devastating our country, including my home State of Texas.

Border security is national security. I thank Chairman Thompson and Ranking Member Katko for bringing this important legislation to the floor today.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of my bill, H.R. 4209, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Herrera Beutler).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Katko), who is the ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee and my good friend.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker I think it is important to note here that we are not going to declare victory. Celebrations will be minimal should this bill pass, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``aye.'' I appreciate the support of the gentleman from New Jersey, of the chairman, and of the ranking member.

This is step one out of 100 different steps. As somebody with a military background who was charged with protecting airspace, defensive counter-air, the border is very similar. It is layered. It is not just one piece that really is the magic solution. There are many different approaches that need to be considered.

This is one, as I said, out of hundreds of steps that need to be accomplished to prevent the fentanyl that we just heard about that could kill every American multiple times, to prevent the rest of the drugs that are flowing into our country, to prevent the trafficking and the crime, and really the overwhelming of our local communities.

As I mentioned, in Odessa, Texas, recently, we uncovered the fact that in 90 days we had almost 20 overdoses from fentanyl. It is a layered defense that is required, so many more steps need to be taken. I am proud to sponsor this legislation to continue to push for that defense and that architecture to be in place.

We need strength, we need deterrence, we need resolve, and, most importantly, we need the political will in a nonpartisan way to bring America back together and the Committee on Homeland Security to secure the safety of every single American.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers on this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for his consistent leadership as he serves as chair and ranking member of a number of subcommittees of the Homeland Security Committee. He has been not only an effective manager here on the floor, but he has been a very effective Member and effective leader on so many issues.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to support H.R. 4209 from my colleague and friend from Texas (Mr. Pfluger).

After years of service on the Homeland Security Committee and any number of times going to the border, I would like to first describe and acknowledge that the southern border is many things.

It is a lifeline to desperate people who are fleeing horrible, violent situations that include the decapitating of their sons and daughters or their husbands and even wives. With the violence of some of the oppressive states in Central and South America, where young boys are recruited right out of their homes for gangs, gang warfare, those families are intimidated and frightened if they do not give their boys to these major gangs and cartels.

We have had any number of a series of the flow of massive influx of migrants from the region. Many may come out of desperation for economic reasons, but many come with credible fear. We expect that that may even occur as early as the next couple of months. I implore my colleagues to respond to that desperation in a unified, committed, and dedicated way of Democrats and Republicans reminding themselves that the Statue of Liberty may be along the New York shore, but people view this place as a refuge.

As a resident of Houston, I can attest to the fact that Ukrainians, Afghans, Africans, Haitians, and, yes, those from South and Central America, and as far away as Southeast Asia, are now congregating at the southern border. I, too, was in Del Rio when the massive movement of human beings flowed for desperate reasons.

This DHS Illicit Cross-Border Tunnel Defense Act is what we need as it relates to the known cartels and persons who are desperate to do evil and to bring the goods that will destroy our young and others who are addicted into the United States.

This is the way. They have proudly said that we build tunnels with lights, air-conditioning, in whatever manner to make them palatable to be able to block, if you will, our law enforcement from achieving their goals.

As the first Member of Congress to bring a human trafficking hearing to Houston, which is known as the epicenter of human trafficking, this is vital legislation to stop the scourge of human trafficking, of bringing young children and young women.

We already know that at the Ukrainian borders in different countries, there is trafficking of young kids who are not killed by Putin; that they are trafficking children and women in that crisis situation. They have no moral compass.

This bill, which strengthens DHS' efforts to identify and remediate illicit cross-border tunnels built and utilized by transnational criminal organizations and smugglers on the southwest border, is crucial.

Mr. Speaker, I particularly support the Secretary's direction to issue a strategic plan that addresses resource needs, including technology and staffing needs. What is needed is a million dollars in funding for fiscal years 2023 and 2024 to acquire material to remediate illicit cross-border tunnels.

I have said that they have regular, good living conditions in these tunnels because they are so extensive. This material includes specialized concrete with enough viscosity to efficiently fill tunnels with fewer insertion points.

We need to combine our efforts as we deal with the scourge of the violent cartels: bloody, guns, intimidating people, and, of course, bringing in illegal entities, some that are human life, into the United States.

The southern border is quite different from the northern border, and we must provide the technology for those who are there.

But as I make that point, Mr. Speaker, I do believe as well that we are never going to get anywhere as Americans, we are never going to win the fight on immigration, on migration, or refugees if we continue to stand in our individual corners. We have to face it. People view this as a beacon of light. You can try to snuff that out, you can try to turn the light off, and you can try to tell them to go back, but they are entrenched with legacy history passed down that this is the place to seek opportunity and refuge.

So I support the legislation. I thank the gentleman from Texas for his hard work. I believe this is an important element to bipartisan commitment to securing our borders in the right way, and I thank him for his leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey, the chairman, and the ranking member of the full committee.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that we are closing out the Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support for 23 important measures to make our communities more secure and improve Department of Homeland Security operations in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023.

I am particularly pleased that we were able to reach agreement on the Nonprofit Security Grant Program Improvement Act to expand and strengthen this vital program so that more nonprofits and houses of worship can access security assistance at this time of heightened threats of violent extremism and terrorism. With antisemitic and other violent threats on the rise, it is clear this legislation is needed now more than ever.

I also want to thank Ranking Member John Katko, as he retires from Congress, for his contributions to the Homeland Security Committee and his critical support throughout this process for the Committee's bipartisan package found in Division G of the NDAA.

While the package reflects the contributions of so many of my colleagues, l would like to give special acknowledgment to Congresswoman Val Demings who championed the Homeland Security Capabilities Preservation Act. This legislation directs DHS to explore ways to provide needed bridge funding to cities to preserve homeland security capability gains accomplished through the Urban Area Security Initiative grant program when they no longer receive such funding.

With respect to cybersecurity, I am pleased that we were able to reach agreement on bipartisan provisions that originated in the Committee on Homeland Security. They include Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin's legislation to reauthorize the Secret Service's National Computer Forensics Institute, Congresswoman Elaine Luria's bill to authorize DHS's President's Cup Cybersecurity Competition, and legislation authored by Congressman Eric Swalwell aimed at improving DHS's cybersecurity training to protect industrial control systems.

While I am enormously proud of the bipartisan homeland security provisions that were included, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge my disappointment that we were not able to reach agreement with the Senate on amending the law to treat TSA's workforce like most other Federal employees or authorize the vital work of DHS's Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. We will continue to seek an agreement on these critical measures.

Lastly, I am particularly proud that the NDAA honors my late friend, Congressman A. Donald McEachin, by including his bill, the DHS Mentor- Protege Program Act, to help small businesses better compete for DHS contracts. It is a fitting tribute to my friend that we came together to pass a bill to open doors of opportunity to small businesses-- something that he was passionate about doing.

Mr. Speaker, the full list of Homeland Security Committee measures that will be enacted by this year's NOAA is as follows:

H.R. 6825, the Nonprofit Security Grant Program Improvement Act of 2022, sponsored by Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS).

H.R. 5615, the Homeland Security Capabilities Preservation Act, sponsored by Rep. Val Butler Demings (D-FL).

H.R. 6387, the School and Daycare Protection Act, sponsored by Rep. Donald M. Payne Jr. (D-NJ).

H.R. 8801, the DHS Joint Task Force Reauthorization Act of 2022, sponsored by Rep. J. Luis Correa (D-CA) and S. 4656, the DHS Joint Task Forces Reauthorization Act of 2022, sponsored by Sen. Gary C. Peters (D-MI).

H.R. 2915, the Homeland Procurement Reform Act, sponsored by Rep. J. Luis Correa (D-CA) and S. 1009, the Homeland Procurement Reform Act, sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).

H.R. 6824, the President's Cup Cybersecurity Competition Act, sponsored by Rep. Elaine G. Luria (D-VA).

H.R. 7777, the Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Training Act, sponsored by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA).

H.R. 7174, the National Computer Forensics Institute Reauthorization Act of 2022, sponsored by Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and S. 4673, the National Computer Forensics Institute Reauthorization Act of 2022, sponsored by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

H.R. 5574, the TSA Reaching Across Nationalities, Societies, and Languages to Advance Traveler Education Act (``TRANSLATE Act''), sponsored by Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) and S. 3296, the TSA Reaching Across Nationalities, Societies, and Languages to Advance Traveler Education Act (``TRANSLATE Act''), sponsored by Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4209) to support remediation of illicit cross-border tunnels, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include any extraneous materials on this measure.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4209, the DHS Illicit Cross- Border Tunnel Defense Act.

Since 1990, more than 200 cross-border tunnels built by smugglers and transnational criminal organizations have done smuggling of illicit drugs, humans, weapons, and money, and have been discovered along the U.S. border with Mexico.

The Border Tunnel Prevention Act of 2012, signed into law by President Obama, enhanced the criminal penalties for unauthorized construction,

financing, or use of a tunnel or subterranean passageway between the U.S. and another country.

Yet, since that time, transnational criminal organizations, or TCOs, continue to construct illicit cross-border tunnels in the hopes of circumventing detection by border authorities.

The tunnels are mainly used to traffic narcotics, such as heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine, and facilitate the illicit movement of weapons, contraband, and currency.

Introduced by Congressman Pfluger, H.R. 4209 seeks to build upon existing law to enhance Customs and Border Protection's capacity to detect and remediate illicit cross-border tunnels. In 2013, CBP established a Tunnel Program Management Office to develop and acquire technology to detect tunnels.

With funding and technological advances, CBP has significantly increased its ability to detect the existence of tunnels. These developments have allowed the agency to progress from manual methods of detection, such as human observation of traffic patterns and routine patrol operations, to the use of sensors to detect, classify, and localize subterranean activity.

To help the Tunnel Program Management Office become more effective, H.R. 4209 provides dedicated funding and requires the development and implementation of a comprehensive and strategic approach to tunnel threats.

In addition to authorizing $1 million annually to purchase specialized material to seal the tunnels, the bill directs DHS to issue a strategic plan that addresses resource needs, including technology and staffing needs, to identify, assess, and remediate illicit tunnels.

The bill also requires the submission of a report to Congress on activities carried out to implement the strategy.

This legislation is very timely. Just as technology that allows our government to detect the existence of these illicit tunnels has improved, so has the technology used by transnational criminal organizations to construct them.

In January 2020, CBP discovered the longest smuggling tunnel ever found on the U.S.-Mexico border. The tunnel stretched for more than 4,000 feet and was equipped with a makeshift elevator, drainage and air ventilation, and high-voltage electrical cables.

The consequences of not detecting and shutting down these illicit cross-border tunnels stretch far beyond our border communities. The impact of narcotics and weapons making their way into American communities can be devastating.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4209, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I have no more speakers, and I am prepared to close after the gentleman.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, let me just commend the gentleman from Texas for this well-thought-out legislation. The challenge of ending the scourge of drugs in our communities is complex as there are many ways these poisons come into our communities.

H.R. 4209 targets illicit cross-border tunnels. By joining me in supporting this legislation today, Members can help CBP continue to carry out its detection and remediation program in a strategic and commonsense way.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4209 seeks to make smart and bipartisan investments in our Nation's border security. For that reason, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4209, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4209, the ``Department of Homeland Security Illicit Cross-Border Tunnel Defense Act.''

This bill authorizes for FY2022 and FY2023 U.S. Customs and Border Protection activities to identify and close tunnels criminals use to illegally cross our Southern Border.

This bill also directs the Customs and Border Patrol to develop and report to Congress a strategic plan to improve tunnel closures.

According to Customs and Border Patrol, Cross-border tunnels are dug by transnational criminal organizations to smuggle contraband into the U.S. from neighboring countries. Current detection capabilities rely on random tips and the laborious collection of human intelligence (HUMINT).

When tunnels are discovered, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have limited ability to access the tunnel to arrest and prosecute those involved in creating and using the tunnel.

The reason behind such limited ability is because Customs and Border Patrol lack the needed fiscal resources needed to combat tunnel construction and usage. This bill aims to ameliorate that problem.

Mr. Speaker, after considering statements from Customs and Border Patrol, it is clear that people seeking a better life do not use illegal tunnels to achieve such ends. The tunnels are instead used by those seeking to wreak havoc and bring crime into our communities, with no other purpose.

For example, upon discovery of a 183-foot-long subterranean tunnel in Mexicali, Baja California, near the international border, Cardell T. Morant, special agent in charge of HSI San Diego said, ``These types of tunnels enable drug traffickers to conduct illicit activities virtually undetected across the U.S.-Mexico border.''

Morant continued, ``Discovering and shutting down these tunnels deals a major blow to drug trafficking organizations because it denies them the ability to smuggle drugs, weapons and people across the border.''

That tunnel had an entrance measuring 12 feet by 10 feet and extended 3 feet north of the international border wall but had no exit on the U.S. side of the border, apparently creating temporary exits on an ad hoc basis.

The Drug Trafficking Organization who designed it equipped the tunnel with electricity, ventilation, a rail system with a cart, and an electric hoist.

Mr. Speaker, these tunnels, even if they are only open for a short period, can allow traffickers to move massive amounts of drugs, humans, currency, and firearms back-and-forth between Mexico and the United States.

As Chair of the Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Committee, I am committed to ensuring our internal and homeland security. Fighting these criminals at every turn is critical to achieving of that objective, and this bill provides the CBP additional tools for that purpose.

I am therefore proud to support H.R. 4209, the ``Department of Homeland Security Illicit Cross-Border Tunnel Defense Act'' and urge my colleagues to as well.