During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) spoke about the percentage of fentanyl that is seized at legal ports of entry.
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00:00Mr. Scott, good morning and welcome to the hearing.
00:03I appreciate you taking time to visit with me in the office.
00:07Mr. Scott, when we met, we had a lengthy discussion on inspection technology
00:12and other technology improvements that could benefit CBP's ability to interdict drugs.
00:18Yes or no, are the vast majority of drug seizures, including fentanyl, made at legal ports of entry?
00:25Currently, hard narcotics are primarily seized at ports of entry.
00:29Ninety percent or so of the drugs?
00:33The actual seizures, not the total flow, but the known seizures.
00:36Are made at ports of entry?
00:38Correct.
00:38And is it true that an overwhelming number of those are actually made in passenger vehicles being driven by American citizens?
00:47I believe that's correct.
00:48Yes or no, is CBP's inability to screen incoming, and I would contend outgoing cargo,
00:54put CBP officers in American communities at risk?
00:59Screening the volume of traffic coming across the border to include the seaports, the rail, it is challenging.
01:06And then that is exactly why we're trying to make more investments in the NII, the non-intrusive inspection equipment,
01:12as well as the AI behind it, basically using technology to make those officers more and more effective.
01:18Because at the end of the day, I think it's really important to highlight a lot of that technology, it just detects anomalies.
01:24It takes an actual officer or an agent to determine if there's actually something illegal there or not.
01:29So making sure that we use human beings, you use those officers and agents in the most effective manner possible is critical.
01:36And I think investments in the technology aspect of it is going to make them more effective.
01:40It's going to make America safer.
01:42Appreciate that.
01:43Yes or no, do you believe inspection technology can help CBP officers do their jobs more safely and effectively?
01:49Yes, sir.
01:50And yes or no, do you believe implementing a strategy to achieve 100% screening,
01:55even if it requires rebuilding port infrastructure or leads to increased wait times, would make our country more secure?
02:01I can't answer that yes or no.
02:05In theory, yes, it would.
02:06But there's always tradeoffs about the amount of money invested and the amount of time and the risk.
02:11So in the short term, CBP, I believe, does have a strategy to significantly enhance the number of vehicles that are actually being screened with NII.
02:19In a perfect world, we would love to get to 100%.
02:22But there's always going to have to be a lot of conversations with Congress on how to fund that.
02:26Because it will, as you know, we talked about, it will require revamping the actual footprint of ports of entry where they're right on the border.
02:33And we just don't have the ability to inspect before they get to the primary inspection location.
02:39I appreciate that.
02:39Mr. Chairman, this is one of those areas where I hope that we don't just talk about this.
02:43But this is something that we could probably do.
02:46It changes the way that we need to approach this.
02:48But if we truly want to know what's entering the United States,
02:51there's no reason that we could not advance that 100% screening and things of that nature.
02:55I know I've chatted with several of my colleagues about this in the past.
02:58And my constituents, they don't understand why we're not deploying more technology to work with the agents to be able to figure this one out.
03:08And so I appreciate that response.
03:11Now, do you believe that CBP should partner with our national laboratories to develop and deploy the next generation of these tools
03:18that can identify the molecular or chemical makeup of fentanyl and other narcotics?
03:23Thank you for that question.
03:26As I mentioned in my opening, border security is a team sport.
03:29So, yes, the labs, private industry, the Department of Defense, anybody that's actually looking at these,
03:36I think, can be a partner to help us get more and more effective and utilize our personnel more effectively.
03:41And, Mr. Chairman, this is one of the areas I've suggested for years that the Science and Tech Directorate in the DHS space,
03:48the Department of Energy is working with many agencies with work that they do all around the world.
03:53There's no reason that more of that could not be commercialized or used in a space where there's a domestic approach to it as well.
03:59And it would actually, I think, create some savings in the United States and allow us to have more advanced technology that could be deployed.
04:04Now, Mr. Scott, 2021, the BorderPlex region was the manufacturing hub with the fifth highest employment in North America,
04:11accounting for 17% of all trade with Mexico.
04:15The Santa Teresa port of entry in New Mexico ranked number six in imports and number seven in exports
04:20among land ports for merchandise trade along the United States-Mexico border in 22.
04:26For livestock trade, Santa Teresa continues to represent the largest port along the U.S.-Mexico border.
04:31Now, given these clear indicators of Santa Teresa's rising strategic and economic importance,
04:36my question is, why has CBP not prioritized the Santa Teresa port of entry for infrastructure improvements?
04:43So, currently, as a policy advisor, I don't have that level of detail.
04:47But if confirmed, as we discussed before, I'll commit to reevaluating the entire priority for infrastructure improvements
04:54and looking at it because, especially on the southwest border, in all the environments,
04:59the trade and travel has shifted and expanded dramatically in certain areas.
05:04And I know we have not kept up.
05:06So, I commit to looking into that more if confirmed.
05:09I appreciate that, sir.
05:10And, Mr. Chairman, if Governor Abbott is going to continue to close ports of entry going into Texas,
05:15they go to New Mexico.
05:16So, maybe we can find a nice way to be able to get this done and push New Mexico up that five-year CIP plan.
05:22Thank you for the time.
05:22Appreciate your responses.
05:23Thanks, sir.
05:24Thank you, Senator Lee.