Sponsors (2)
The bill makes it easier for border communities and some airports to access and process lawful cross-border travel and trade, but does so by reducing fee revenue and increasing federal and local costs that are likely to fall on taxpayers and local entities.
Border communities and cross-border travelers will have more nearby ports of entry, easing legal travel and trade across the border.
Airports designated as ports of entry will avoid the Section 236 user fee, lowering operating costs for those airports and potentially reducing fees for users or taxpayers.
Formal association between airports and nearby land crossings or seaports should improve coordination with CBP, streamlining cargo and passenger inspections and intermodal processing.
Designating additional ports of entry likely increases federal obligations for CBP staffing and infrastructure, which could raise costs borne by taxpayers.
Removing the user-fee for qualifying airports shifts funding away from fee revenue and may reduce funds available for customs services or force reliance on general fund appropriations.
Airports and local governments may face administrative and legal costs to create the required formal associations (contracts or ordinances) to qualify under the bill.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires the President to designate qualifying primary airports within 30 miles of a land border as U.S. ports of entry and removes a specific federal user-fee for those airports.
Introduced April 17, 2025 by Elise M. Stefanik · Last progress April 17, 2025
Requires the President to designate qualifying primary airports located within 30 miles of the northern or southern land border as U.S. ports of entry and removes the user-fee requirement in federal law for those designated airports. Qualifying airports must be within 30 miles of the border, formally associated by contract or ordinance with a nearby land border crossing or seaport (within 30 miles), and meet numerical criteria used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Treasury Decision 82–37 (or successor guidance). The change shifts administrative status for eligible airports (making them official ports of entry) and eliminates the specific user fee that would otherwise apply, with no new funding provided and no deadline specified for designation in the text provided.