The BEST Facilitation Act is currently in the early stages of the legislative process. It was recently introduced in the Senate and sent to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs for review. The bill is actively moving as it waits for the committee to discuss its next steps.
Legislative Progress
Senate
House
President
Law
Could go either way
The bill has bipartisan support from senators in border states, but it is a new program that must still clear the committee process and secure funding.
Key Points
This bill creates a new job called an image technician within the Customs and Border Protection agency. These workers will spend their time looking at X-ray style pictures of trucks, cars, and shipping containers to find hidden drugs, weapons, or people trying to cross the border illegally.
By hiring these specialized technicians, the government hopes to free up regular border officers for other duties. These technicians are not law enforcement officers and do not have the power to make arrests, but they will tell officers when a vehicle looks suspicious and needs a physical inspection.
The program will set up five regional command centers where these technicians will work. They will receive special training on how to spot illegal items and how to respect people's privacy and rights while doing their jobs.
This is a five-year test program to see if it makes border crossings faster and more secure. The government will track how many illegal items are found and if wait times at the border go down because of the extra help.
The bill requires regular reports to Congress to see if the technicians are as accurate as regular officers. If the program ends after five years, the workers can move into other jobs within the Department of Homeland Security.
Impact Analysis
Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.
Milestones
2 milestones2 actions
Feb 13, 2025Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.
Feb 13, 2025
Introduced in Senate
The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.
