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Border Security
"Inadequate staffing and outdated infrastructure at our land ports of entry are making America less safe. We need to provide our federal law enforcement agencies with the tools and resources they need to effectively combat the flow of drugs, money, and weapons that are illegally transported between the United States and Mexico." -Congressman Silvestre Reyes
As a former Border Patrol Sector Chief, Congressman Reyes is the only Member of Congress with decades of experience in securing America's borders. Through his experience, Reyes understands that true border security is not achieved through higher fences, but through additional border security professionals who can patrol the border and staff our land ports of entry. Increasing the number of professionals on the ground is important to enhancing border security but also necessary to accommodate the growth in trade and commerce in the region. Throughout his tenure in Congress, Reyes has worked to increase funding for the Department of Homeland Security to support additional Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection professionals along the Southwest border.
Reyes strongly supports comprehensive immigration reform and firmly believes the issue of reform is a national security issue.
 Congressman Reyes helped establish the annual U.S.-Mexico Border Issues Conference in Washington, DC and the Border Security Conference in El Paso, to highlight the unique needs of the border region and to engage policy makers on important border issues. These conferences have raised the profile of the border region's unique challanges and have influenced federal funding and policy outcomes. The most recent Border Security Conference at UTEP featured America's top security officials and experts including Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, the President's National Security Advisor, John Brennan, the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Gil Kerlikowske, and others.
Accomplishments
• Putting Our Resources Toward Security (PORTS) Act - H.R. 1655 -
Inadequate staffing and outdated infrastructure at our land ports of entry are making America less safe. For this reason, Congressman Reyes introduced the PORTS (Putting Our Resources Toward Security) Act, a bill that would dramatically increase funding and staffing levels at America’s land ports of entry to help combat the illegal transport of drugs, money, and weapons between the United States and Mexico and reduce excessive bridge wait times. This critical legislation would provide $5 billion through 2014 to the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), to repair and modernize infrastructure all U.S. land ports of entry, and would also provide funding for an additional 5000 Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents to improve inspections and reduce traffic congestion.
• Helped secure $91 million for new inspection facilities for the new Tornillo-Guadalupe Port of Entry in the 2010 fiscal year budget.
• Secured $3.5 million to support the construction of a new Customs and Border Protection Hangar at El Paso International Airport in the 2010 budget. (This was a high priority for the City of El Paso)
• Helped to once again secure nearly $6 million for a third year in a row for the City of El Paso through the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) to help protect critical infrastructure (Congressman Reyes was instrumental in El Paso’s successful application to the UASI program and also urged the Department of Homeland Security to place special emphasis on military infrastructure and ports of entry when considering funding allocations).
• Advocated for additional funding to strengthen border security initiatives along the Southwest border. The recently enacted 2010 DHS Appropriations Act included $72 million for 144 new Border Patrol agents, 115 CBP officers, and $100 million for ICE operations along the Southwest border.
Other Accomplishments
Congressman Reyes fought for the first ever dedicated commuter lane (DCL) at a port-of-entry along the Texas-Mexico border. The DCL helps alleviate traffic congestion at the Stanton Street bridge and expedites the crossing process for thousands of regular border crossers. There is an urgent need for additional DCLs, and Congressman Reyes secured funds from the Department of Homeland Security for construction of a new DCL at the Ysleta border crossing which recently opened.
Congressman Reyes also helped secure funding for the Border Health Commission (BHC), which is the only entity in operation that is uniquely focused on the health challenges facing the border region. We also secured El Paso as the home of the BHC.
In a coordinated effort among El Pasoans and others across the country, we successfully fought efforts by the Executive Branch to eliminate funding for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), which provided $2.9 million since 1999 to El Paso law enforcement agencies to help defray the costs of dealing with undocumented immigrants in the states criminal justice system.
We also won Congressional approval for assigning two additional federal judges to the Western District of Texas and funding for Border prosecutors to help alleviate the heavy workload that burdens our judicial system. Also, we shaped changes to the NAFTA-Trade Adjustment Assistance Program (TAAP) to better assist displaced workers.
These are examples of some of the accomplishments we achieved by working together for the best interests of El Paso. Much work remains to be done, and based on our past performance, we will succeed.
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