Sunshine Sentinel

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senators Rick Scott and Kyrsten Sinema applauded the passage of their Continuing High-Quality Evaluations of Concerning and Known Persons of Interest through National Training Updates (CHECKPOINT) Act out of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC). This bipartisan bill will require regular updates to drug seizure data collection categories, reporting requirements, and responsibilities for checkpoints and secondary inspection sites operated by the U.S. Border Patrol. This legislation makes recommended changes to the procedures following reports from the Government Accountability Office and will increase the accountability of the Checkpoint Program Management Office leadership. It now heads to the Senate floor for consideration. 

Senator Rick Scott said, “It’s heart-wrenching and terrifying that fentanyl continues to flow across our southern border and into U.S. communities where it takes more lives every single day. We cannot allow this drug to continue endangering American families. This commonsense legislation will make several updates to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection training and procedures of the Checkpoint Program Management Office to ensure we are doing everything possible to seize these drugs from dangerous criminals before they harm our communities. I’m glad to have bipartisan support for the Continuing High-quality Evaluations of Concerning and Known Persons of Interest through National Training Updates (CHECKPOINT) Act, and I’m thankful it passed out of committee this week. I won’t stop fighting for this bill’s full passage so that we may take another step toward ending the deadly fentanyl smuggling happening at our border.

Senator Kyrsten Sinema said, “Our bipartisan bill delivers real solutions to crack down on dangerous human and drug smuggling at Arizona’s border, and is now one step closer to becoming law – and one step closer to bringing Arizona families peace of mind.” 

The Continuing High-Quality Evaluations of Concerning and Known Persons of Interest through National Training Updates (CHECKPOINT) Act will:

• Codify the Checkpoint Program Management Office (CPMO) and require an accountable Assistant Chief of Border Patrol for the office to clarify the roles, responsibilities, and actions necessary to carry out their important mission;
• Require the CPMO to regularly coordinate with Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Border Patrol Offices that support checkpoint operations;
• Require the Chief and Assistant Chief to regularly update categories for seizure collection data to most effectively capture this information;
• Require a data collection plan to develop goals and milestones for improving checkpoint data collection, improve the reliability and accuracy of data collected, and address issues related to data collection identified in GAO-22-104568;
• Require data on the use of the Border Enforcement Secondary Tool, license plate reader technology, and any additional tools developed to document information about secondary inspections and checkpoints; and
• Require an annual report to HSGAC and House Homeland on the data required to be collected, steps taken to implement this bill, and actions taken to ensure proper oversight of the CPMO

Original source can be found here.