House Bipartisan Bill Calls For Greater Oversight, Accountability From Border Control Agencies

A Republican and Democrat whose congressional districts are located along the border with Mexico introduced on Wednesday a bill which aims to improve transparency at Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The news comes amid a growing outcry from civil-liberties groups over agents’ use of deadly force as well as what the groups describe as harassment of individuals at ports of entry and interior checkpoints set up within the 100-mile radius from the border where the Border Patrol – one of many offices within the CBP -- operates.

Rep. Beto O’Rourke, the Texas Democrat who co-authored the bill, told Buzzfeed that oversight of CBP had not kept pace with federal spending on border control. “The why is, we’ve stepped up total border spending from 10 years ago from $7 billion to $18 billion today. We’ve doubled the size of the border patrol. We have millions of [border] crossings just in El Paso,” he told the site. “So you have this big build up in enforcement and spending and you’re not even keeping pace on transparency, governance on the committees of jurisdiction … [while] individually and anecdotally you have case after case of alleged violations of human rights, civil rights, civil liberties, protections.” Rep. Steve Pierce, a New Mexico Republican, told a local news site that the bill was “a direct response to the needs of our constituents” and “a resounding statement that the two parties can successfully work together on immigration reform.”

Among other things, the Border Enforcement, Accountability, Oversight, and Community Engagement Act would create an independent Border Oversight Commission to examine and make recommendations on CBP use-of-force, search-and-seizure, community-engagement and personnel training policies, as well as establish an ombudsman’s office within Homeland Security to advocate for the public interest. It would also establish liaison offices in US-Mexico and US-Canada border communities, mandate new transparency measures during investigations of use-of-force incidents, and establish better practices for tracking and preventing migrant deaths along the border.