Sponsors (11)
Requires the Department of Homeland Security to analyze and report on Customs and Border Protection staffing and retirement risks at northern land ports and to plan responses. It notes a large CBP officer shortfall and an expected surge of retirements in 2028, and adds requirements to the existing northern border review to assess current and projected staffing, retirement mitigation plans, housing challenges, and local recruiting strategies and to include proposals to address shortages.
Between 2002 and 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) roughly doubled staffing levels; the CBP Office Workload Staffing Model indicates a nationwide staffing shortage of 5,800 CBP officers (model result vs. current staffing).
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110–161) made CBP Officers eligible for the 1.7 percent enhanced law enforcement officer (LEO) retirement system, which allows retirement at age 50 with 20 years of service or at any age with 25 years of service.
On April 30, 2024, then-Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner Troy A. Miller testified that ports of entry face a 400 percent increase in retirements in 2028.
The projected retirement surge would disproportionately affect ports of entry along the northern border.
A 400 percent retirement surge would leave northern border ports of entry understaffed and unable to protect the American people from threats, according to the section.
Primary federal actors affected are DHS and Customs and Border Protection, which must expand and update their northern border threat review to include workforce and operational planning. CBP operational planning and human resources offices will need to collect, analyze, and report staffing projections, retirement risk analyses, and mitigation plans. Because the bill highlights housing and local recruiting, northern border communities and local governments could be engaged more in recruitment partnerships and may need to respond to requests for local hiring plans or housing solutions. Frontline CBP officers and prospective recruits are indirectly affected: the requirement could lead to targeted hiring or retention measures (if resources are later provided). The legislation does not fund hires or housing, so agencies may face operational strain if they are expected to prepare plans without additional funding. Overall, the measure increases administrative and reporting workload for DHS/CBP, raises visibility of northern-port staffing risks, and could prompt future budget requests or policy actions to implement recommended hiring and retention responses.
Last progress June 10, 2025 (8 months ago)
Introduced on June 10, 2025 by Peter Stauber
Referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security.