[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 172 (Tuesday, December 21, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H8811-H8813]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   ANTI-BORDER CORRUPTION ACT OF 2010

  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules 
and pass the bill (S. 3243) to require U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection to administer polygraph examinations to all applicants for 
law enforcement positions with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, to 
require U.S. Customs and Border Protection to complete all periodic 
background reinvestigations of certain law enforcement personnel, and 
for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:
       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Anti-Border Corruption Act 
     of 2010''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) According to the Office of the Inspector General of the 
     Department of Homeland Security, since 2003, 129 U.S. Customs 
     and Border Protection officials have been arrested on 
     corruption charges and, during 2009, 576 investigations were 
     opened on allegations of improper conduct by U.S. Customs and 
     Border Protection officials.
       (2) To foster integrity in the workplace, established 
     policy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection calls for--
       (A) all job applicants for law enforcement positions at 
     U.S. Customs and Border Protection to receive a polygraph 
     examination and a background investigation before being 
     offered employment; and
       (B) relevant employees to receive a periodic background 
     reinvestigation every 5 years.
       (3) According to the Office of Internal Affairs of U.S. 
     Customs and Border Protection--
       (A) in 2009, less than 15 percent of applicants for jobs 
     with U.S. Customs and Border Protection received polygraph 
     examinations;
       (B) as of March 2010, U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
     had a backlog of approximately 10,000 periodic background 
     reinvestigations of existing employees; and
       (C) without additional resources, by the end of fiscal year 
     2010, the backlog of periodic background reinvestigations 
     will increase to approximately 19,000.

     SEC. 3. REQUIREMENTS WITH RESPECT TO ADMINISTERING POLYGRAPH 
                   EXAMINATIONS TO LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL OF 
                   U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION.

       The Secretary of Homeland Security shall ensure that--
       (1) by not later than 2 years after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, all applicants for law enforcement 
     positions with U.S. Customs and Border Protection receive 
     polygraph examinations before being hired for such a 
     position; and
       (2) by not later than 180 days after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
     initiates all periodic background reinvestigations for all 
     law enforcement personnel of U.S. Customs and Border 
     Protection that should receive periodic background 
     reinvestigations pursuant to relevant policies of U.S. 
     Customs and Border Protection in effect on the day before the 
     date of the enactment of this Act.

     SEC. 4. PROGRESS REPORT.

       Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of 
     this Act, and every 180 days thereafter through the date that 
     is 2 years after such date of enactment, the Secretary of 
     Homeland Security shall submit to the Committee on Homeland 
     Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the 
     Committee on Homeland Security of the House of 
     Representatives a report on the progress made by U.S. Customs 
     and Border Protection toward complying with section 3.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) and the gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. Miller) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Texas.


                             General Leave

  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend 
their remarks and insert extraneous material on the bill under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of S. 
3243, the Anti-Border Corruption Act of 2010, and yield myself such 
time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, we all have a stake in ensuring that the agency in 
charge of securing our border is strong and effective. Accordingly, I 
believe that corruption anywhere in the ranks of Customs and Border 
Protection, or CBP, must be dealt with swiftly and effectively. Now, 
having gone to our border, both northern and southern border, I am well 
aware that there is a lot of hard work, sacrifice, and professionalism 
that goes on among our CBP personnel. In fact, I have engaged with them 
over the years.
  S. 3243, however, will foster greater integrity throughout the CBP by 
requiring polygraph tests for all its law enforcement applicants and 
directing CBP leadership to conduct periodic reinvestigations on 
current personnel to root out any corruption--very important in light 
of the extreme conditions, particularly on the southern border, and the 
fight that we have against drug cartels and violence.
  The men and women of Customs and Border Protection, CBP, serve on the 
front line in extreme heat, terrible cold, and other difficult 
circumstances to protect the Nation against homeland security and 
criminal threats, and we are enormously grateful to them.
  I am proud of the strides that Congress has made over the years to 
bolster the efforts of these fine men and women by, among other things, 
doubling the size of the Border Patrol from about 10,000 agents in FY 
2002 to more than 20,000 in FY 2009. I am very pleased that having 
served on that committee since its origin, and having served under 
Chairman Thompson, that was one of our number one priorities. In fact, 
legislation that I introduced became, ultimately, part of a Senate bill 
that helped increase the number of Border Patrol agents at the border, 
the southern border in particular.
  Traditional smuggling routes and networks have been disrupted because 
of our Federal efforts to secure the border. But in response, smugglers 
and other criminal organizations are actively seeking out other ways to 
conduct their illegal activity. They have, in some cases, resorted to 
infiltrating and weakening CBP from within its ranks.
  While the majority of CBP employees are not corrupt and are putting 
their lives on the line every day to keep America secure, there are 
some who are undermining their efforts. Let me remind my colleagues: 
The majority of CBP employees are not corrupt, and we thank them for 
their sacrifice. However, enactment of this bill will strengthen 
personnel integrity, result in greater hiring efficiency, and protect 
those who are doing their job every single day.
  According to CBP, approximately 15 percent of applicants received a 
polygraph examination last year. Of those, about 60 percent were found 
unsuitable for service. CBP has also found that less than 1 percent of 
applicants cleared by polygraph testing failed the required background 
investigation. It shows that this process will work. In contrast, 
roughly 22 percent of applicants who do not undergo this testing fail 
their background investigations.
  Maintaining workforce integrity is a continuous process that does not 
end with preemployment screening. With the aggressive growth in CBP, 
the agency has struggled to keep up with its periodic reinvestigations 
of certain personnel. S. 3243 would require CBP to initiate 
reinvestigation within 6 months of enactment and report to Congress on 
its progress, all toward the idea of ensuring the integrity of law 
enforcement at a very crucial time in America's history.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the passage of S. 3243, 
because this legislation will help bolster CBP's ability to ensure 
integrity throughout the ranks of this critical Homeland Security 
agency. And, frankly, I believe the men and women who are doing their 
job every day will welcome this kind of process in order to be able to 
stand alongside of those men and women just like them.
  I urge support.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. MILLER of Michigan. I yield myself as much time as I may 
consume.

[[Page H8812]]

  Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak about S. 3243, which will 
require Customs and Border Protection, the CBP, to begin polygraph 
testing for all new applicants for law enforcement positions before 
being hired and to initiate periodic background reinvestigations for 
all of its law enforcement personnel.
  First, I would like to sincerely commend the work that the Border 
Patrol agents and the CBP officers across the Nation do each and every 
single day. These brave men and women stand on the front lines. They 
endure hardships. They face dangerous and heavily armed drug cartels 
along the southern border. And agents like Brian Terry, who lost his 
life, actually, last week and is an agent from Michigan who, I believe, 
is being laid out at a funeral parlor in the city of Detroit as we 
speak, lay down their lives to protect our border and our Nation. And, 
of course, the challenges faced by CBP agents, as well, along the 
northern border are also being met.
  The important work being done by our Border Patrol and CBP officers 
to control the legal flow of both people and goods while deterring 
smuggling has made them a target of these drug cartels and other 
criminal organizations who want to recruit them to help smuggle drugs 
and money across our borders.
  Corruption amongst border agents, unfortunately, is not a new 
problem. But as our enforcement efforts along the border have grown, so 
have the number of corruption cases. Since 2003, 129 CBP officers have 
been arrested on corruption charges. Last year alone, there were 576 
allegations of corruption.

                              {time}  1150

  CBP's internal affairs office has stated that less than 15 percent of 
applicants receive a polygraph test, despite agency policy that 
requires that all applicants are supposed to take this test. CBP 
procedure also requires periodic background reinvestigations for 
employees to occur at least every 5 years. However, Madam Speaker, 
there is currently a backlog of over 10,000 cases, which could increase 
to 19,000 by the end of this fiscal year. This bill will make it 
mandatory for all CBP applicants to be prescreened with a polygraph 
examination and will require CBP to clear the backlog of 
reinvestigations within 6 months.
  This bill will go a long, long way to preventing people like 
Margarita Crispin from becoming a CBP agent. Ms. Crispin, as an 
example, was hired by CBP in 2003, at which time she had already been 
recruited by the Juarez cartel. Almost immediately after completing her 
training, she began helping drug traffickers smuggle narcotics into the 
U.S.; and by the time she was arrested in 2007, she had allowed more 
than 2,200 pounds of marijuana to cross over our border.
  Ms. Crispin was, unfortunately, not unique among CBP officers. In 
recent years, we have seen the Vilareal brothers, who helped smuggle an 
untold number of Mexicans and Brazilians across the border before 
quitting CBP and then fleeing into Mexico.
  Perhaps most disturbing, however, as an example, was the case of 
Michael Gilliland, who was a highly respected 16-year veteran of CBP 
who was arrested on corruption charges in 2007. Mr. Gilliland became 
involved with a woman who belonged to a smuggling organization and 
before long began taking bribes to help smuggle people and narcotics 
into the United States.
  Madam Speaker, this illustrates how important it is that CBP not only 
give polygraph exams to new applicants, but to also clear their backlog 
and reinvestigate their employees every few years.
  Our efforts to secure the border since 9/11 have made it more 
difficult for criminal organizations to smuggle people and narcotics 
into our country, but this has only made them more desperate. It is 
important to ensure that the outstanding work being done by our Border 
Patrol agents isn't tarnished by a few corrupt individuals who could be 
screened out before they have the opportunity to do harm.
  With the passage of this legislation, we can close this loophole and 
ensure that only the most trustworthy agents are employed by CBP.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as 
I may consume.
  I want to join the gentlelady from Michigan to offer my deepest 
sympathy for the fallen Customs and Border Patrol agent who lost his 
life in the line of duty, in the line of battle, if you will, and to 
express this country's gratefulness again for his service.
  So in tribute to those who we recognize every day put their lives on 
the front line, we want to ensure that we have the kind of force of men 
and women that will uphold the highest standards of integrity that even 
under pressure in this very hostile climate of drug cartels, human 
trafficking and smuggling and massiveness of criminal activity and 
intent to do harm to the United States, that we provide the atmosphere 
for these men and women to do their job.
  Madam Speaker, as you have heard, the enactment of S. 3243 will force 
a greater integrity through CBP. Passage of S. 3243 by the House of 
Representatives today will allow this important measure to be presented 
to the President for his signature in recognition of the sacrifice of 
all of these men and women at our borders.
  I encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting S. 3243 and, as we 
do this, look forward to comprehensively addressing this immigration 
concern in this Nation and really move this Nation forward in a 
nonpartisan and bipartisan manner.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of S. 
3243, the Anti-Border Corruption Act.
  The men and women of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are the 
guardians of our Nation's borders.
  They protect our ports of entry and areas in between against homeland 
security threats, including illicit trafficking and other criminal 
activity, while facilitating legitimate trade and travel.
  The vast majority of CBP personnel are committed to the border 
security mission.
  However, there have been instances in recent years of individuals 
seeking and securing employment with CBP for the express purpose of 
engaging in smuggling and other criminal activities.
  For example, last December, Border Patrol Agent Raquel Esquivel was 
sentenced to 15 years in prison for informing smugglers on the location 
of patrols.
  She reportedly joined the Border Patrol based on the recommendation 
of a high school friend and drug smuggler who convinced her it was a 
``good career move'' for both of them.
  More recently, just last week, a Customs Officer based at Atlanta's 
Hartsfield-Jackson Airport was arrested in one of the largest ecstasy 
pill seizures in the country.
  The officer was charged with conspiring to launder drug money, bulk 
cash smuggling and attempting to bring weapons onto an aircraft. He 
allegedly used his badge to bypass security and avoid screening.
  H.R. 3243 would strengthen CBP by enhancing the agency's personnel 
integrity policies.
  Specifically, the bill would require CBP to:
  (1) require all applicants for CBP law enforcement positions to 
undergo polygraph examinations; and
  (2) commence background re-investigations of certain employees within 
six months of enactment.
  CBP deploys more than 57,000 employees each day.
  On a typical day, they process about one million passengers and 
pedestrians; execute more than two thousand apprehensions between ports 
and over one hundred criminal arrests at ports of entry.
  Given this high-threat environment, it is not surprising that drug 
trafficking organizations have turned their attention to infiltrating 
and compromising CBP.
  The dramatic increases in staffing have also contributed to personnel 
vulnerabilities.
  The Border Patrol has seen its agents double from approximately 
10,000 agents in FY 2002 to more than 20,000 in FY 2009.
  This rate of growth has made it difficult for CBP to pace with 
periodic personnel re-investigations.
  I urge passage of S. 3243 which takes some important steps to help 
prevent the hiring of those who seek to infiltrate CBP for terrorist or 
criminal purposes and ensure that re-investigations are conducted on a 
regular basis to weed out any potential corruption.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of 
my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, S. 3243.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.

[[Page H8813]]

  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the 
ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a 
quorum is not present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.
  The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

                          ____________________