Sen. Ossoff helped pass the bipartisan “Border Enforcement, Security, and Trade (BEST) Facilitation Act” through U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee
Bipartisan bill would support border law enforcement by providing additional personnel to scan cargo for illegal drugs and guns or human trafficking at ports of entry
Washington D.C. –– U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff continues working to prevent drug and human smuggling along the southern border.
Today, Sen. Ossoff helped pass the bipartisan Border Enforcement, Security, and Trade (BEST) Facilitation Act through the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to strengthen border security by providing additional CBP officers to scan cargo for illegal drugs and guns or human smuggling.
“Today the Committee advanced the Bipartisan Border Enforcement, Security, and Trade Act. I was pleased to co-sponsor this legislation, which will strengthen inspections and imaging of inbound cargo and shipments to the United States to ensure that there are not loads of illegal drugs, weapons, or humans who are being trafficked into the country. This is important bipartisan border security legislation. I’m glad that we moved it through the Committee today, and I urge the whole Senate to take it up as swiftly as possible in the interest of protecting the American people,” said Sen. Ossoff.
Click here to watch Sen. Ossoff’s remarks.
The bipartisan bill would establish image technician positions to review cargo inspection images and either recommend entry to the primary inspection CBP officer or refer for further inspection any cargo they suspect may have illegal or illicit items.
The bill would also mandate training and annual assessments for image technicians, establish regional command centers where image technicians review non-intrusive inspection images, and institute reporting requirements.
Sen. Ossoff continues working to strengthen border security and has worked to advance bipartisan legislation to hire and retain more border security officers.
Earlier this month, Sen. Ossoff introduced the Deploy Fentanyl Scanners Act of 2024 to help deploy scanners at ports of entry to better identify contraband, including fentanyl, being smuggled across the border through personal vehicles.
Last month, Sen. Ossoff joined a group of Senators calling on President Biden to include robust Federal funding for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) drug trafficking prevention initiatives in his FY2025 budget.
Last year, Sen. Ossoff helped pass the bipartisan Securing America’s Ports of Entry Act through the U.S. Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee, which would require U.S. Customs and Border Protection to hire, train, and assign no less than 600 additional CBP officers a year, until the agency’s staffing needs are met, to secure ports of entry across the country.
In October 2023, Sen. Ossoff delivered $700,000 in additional funding for the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) to supplement their evidence analysis and efforts to clear GBI’s criminal investigation backlog related to fentanyl.
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