Policy

Senate border technology bill would empower CBP innovation team

The bipartisan Emerging Innovative Border Technologies Act follows a bill of the same name that passed the House in March.

By Matt Bracken

May 23, 2025

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A CBP Border Patrol vehicle drives past recently installed concertina wire on a section of border wall fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border between San Diego and Tijuana in San Diego on April 24, 2025. (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

A congressional push to utilize AI and other emerging technologies at the border got a boost this week with the introduction of a bipartisan Senate bill aimed at strengthening the Department of Homeland Security’s tech resources.

The Emerging Innovative Border Technologies Act from Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., would make permanent an innovation team created at Customs and Border Protection in 2018 to quickly deploy new capabilities to fight human and drug trafficking.

“Technology continues to improve our everyday lives, and it’s just common sense that we look for ways innovative technologies can help keep our border communities secure,” Cortez Masto said in a press release. “I am committed to helping CBP continue developing the tools they need to improve border security operations.”

Added Cassidy: “Let’s secure the border forever by using new technology. Let’s stop fentanyl from flowing into our country.”

The Senate proposal comes after a bill with the same name passed the House in March. The legislation from Reps. Lou Correa, D-Calif., and Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas, targets purchasing and acquisition roadblocks so that DHS can access the best and most cost-effective technology for border security as quickly as possible.

“It’s unconventional warfare,” Luttrell told FedScoop in February. “It’s really guerrilla warfare tactics at the border. [DHS needs] every asset they can have.”

The Senate version, meanwhile, would grant the CBP commissioner the authority to use the innovation team for researching and adapting commercial technologies for border security operations. That team, which would be required to follow standard operating procedures, would be subject to congressional oversight.

The legislation calls on DHS to deliver a plan to Congress on various performance measures and security effects of any tech under consideration for border use. The plan would also include details on the deactivation of certain CBP technologies.

DHS would also be required to inform Congress of any activities and operation procedures pursued by CBP’s innovation team.

Some of the technologies that could be explored include manned aircraft sensors and unmanned aerial systems, tower-based and mobile surveillance systems, miniature satellites and long-term evolution broadband, per the Senate bill text.