“A bill to limit the authority of U.S. Border Patrol personnel to their traditional border security duties, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section states the following Senate findings concerning U.S. Border Patrol operations: (1) agents have requested a return to traditional border security duties, avoiding administrative tasks such as processing asylum seekers and children; (2) during 2025, the agency has been delegated nationwide interior arrest authority, duplicating U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement functions without commensurate training, conducting interior arrests (many without judicial warrants, including of U.S. citizens), and patrolling beyond a reasonable distance from the U.S. land border; (3) many recorded violent encounters with U.S. citizens and residents have involved agents primarily trained for border patrol rather than complex criminal investigations; and (4) despite this training gap, agents have arrested U.S. residents, including citizens, in the U.S. interior.
This section limits the authority of U.S. Border Patrol officers and employees (i.e., any employee, contractor, or detailee performing services for U.S. Border Patrol) under §287 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1357) to within a reasonable distance (i.e., not greater than 25 miles from any U.S. international land border or territorial sea). It prohibits delegating, deputizing, or granting such authority beyond 25 miles unless based on (1) a lawful request by an appropriate state or local official, in accordance with state or local law, to assist in an emergency where lives are in immediate or imminent danger; or (2) the President's declaration of a major disaster under §401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170).
This section directs the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner, not later than 90 days after enactment, to (1) establish milestones for assessing the feasibility of a checkpoint performance model comparing Border Patrol apprehensions and seizures to undetected illegal activity; (2) post related findings and data on a public website at least annually; (3) establish internal controls for oversight of checkpoint data accuracy, consistency, and completeness; and (4) publicly report total encounters at Border Patrol checkpoints, disaggregated by U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and aliens. Not later than 30 days after enactment, the Commissioner must also (1) publicly report the number of agents operating in the U.S. interior; (2) detail each such agent's Fourth Amendment training for searches and seizures; and (3) publicly report the disposition of each interior interaction with a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or alien, including arrests, detentions, stops, or charges.