Sponsors (2)
The bill expands local access to customs services and waives user fees for travelers and shippers, improving convenience and lowering direct costs for users, but shifts those costs and operational burdens onto federal budgets, CBP staffing, and some local governments.
Passengers and shippers (including small businesses and transportation workers) using newly designated airports no longer pay the customs user fee, reducing travel and shipping costs.
Border communities and travelers gain closer, regular access to customs services when qualifying nearby primary airports are designated ports of entry, improving convenience and local connectivity.
Border communities and cargo operators benefit from more formalized CBP presence and clearer criteria at additional airports, which can streamline cross-border travel and cargo processing.
Taxpayers and federal budgets will absorb lost user fee revenue, likely increasing federal spending or forcing trade-offs that reduce resources elsewhere.
CBP may face operational and staffing burdens to establish and operate additional ports of entry, potentially diverting personnel and attention from other locations or missions.
Local governments and airports may incur costs to form formal legal associations and meet CBP criteria to qualify as ports of entry, imposing expenses on small localities and airport operators.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires the President to designate qualifying primary airports near the U.S. land border as ports of entry and eliminates a user fee for those airports.
Official title: To require the designation of certain airports as ports of entry.
Introduced April 17, 2025 by Elise M. Stefanik · Last progress April 17, 2025
Requires the President to designate certain nearby commercial airports as U.S. ports of entry if they are primary airports within 30 miles of the northern or southern land border, are formally associated with a nearby land border crossing or seaport, and meet CBP numeric criteria. For those designated airports, the bill removes the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984 user-fee requirement that would otherwise apply. The rule narrows eligibility by tying designation to primary airport status, proximity to a land border and a formal association with a border crossing or seaport, and to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) numerical criteria in existing Treasury decisions or successor guidance.