Sponsors (3)
The bill increases transparency and can accelerate fixes to border infrastructure—helping enforcement and oversight—but does so by empowering waivers that may bypass safeguards, raise costs for taxpayers, and impose administrative burdens on DHS.
Taxpayers and border communities: DHS must inventory gaps along the southern border within 180 days and then biennially, producing unclassified reports that increase transparency about infrastructure needs and enable public and congressional oversight.
Law-enforcement and border communities: The bill requires correction of identified deficiencies and permits use of existing waiver authority to speed repairs or upgrades to nonoperational border infrastructure, which can improve operational effectiveness for border enforcement.
Federal decision-makers and the public: Providing unclassified reports (with an optional classified annex) gives Congress and citizens better information to prioritize and justify border-security investments.
Border communities and affected stakeholders: Allowing the Secretary to waive legal requirements to fix deficiencies can bypass environmental, procurement, and other safeguards, raising legal, environmental, and community concerns.
Taxpayers: Expedited repairs or construction using waiver authority may impose substantial costs without specifying additional appropriations, potentially increasing fiscal burden on the public.
Federal employees and law enforcement: Frequent surveys and reporting requirements could increase DHS administrative burden and divert personnel time and resources from other operations if additional resources are not provided.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires DHS to survey southern border tactical infrastructure within 180 days and biennially, report findings, and use waiver authority to fix identified deficiencies quickly.
Introduced July 23, 2025 by Dustin Johnson · Last progress July 23, 2025
Requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to perform an initial survey within 180 days and then biennial surveys of existing tactical infrastructure along the southern border, report the results to two congressional committees, and, when deficiencies are found, use statutory waiver authority to correct them quickly. Reports must be submitted in unclassified form with an optional classified annex, and the law defines what counts as a "deficiency."