II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1444
To increase the pay and enhance the training of United States Border
Patrol agents, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MAY4, 2023
Mr. L
ANKFORD(for himself and Ms. SINEMA) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Secu-
rity and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To increase the pay and enhance the training of United
States Border Patrol agents, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Border Patrol En-4
hancement Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. AUTHORIZED STAFFING LEVEL FOR THE UNITED 6
STATES BORDER PATROL. 7
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
(1) Q
UALIFIED RESEARCH ENTITY .—The term 9
‘‘qualified research entity’’ means an independent, 10
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 May 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1444.IS S1444
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2
•S 1444 IS
not-for-profit, federally funded research entity with 1
appropriate expertise and analytical capability to 2
analyze and validate the personnel requirements de-3
termination model. 4
(2) V
ALIDATED PERSONNEL REQUIREMENTS 5
DETERMINATION MODEL .—The term ‘‘validated per-6
sonnel requirements determination model’’ means a 7
determination of the number of United States Bor-8
der Patrol agents needed to meet the critical mission 9
requirements of the United States Border Patrol to 10
maintain an orderly process for migrants entering 11
the United States, that has been validated by a 12
qualified research entity pursuant to subsection (d). 13
(b) I
NGENERAL.—The authorized personnel level for 14
United States Border Patrol agents on the date of the en-15
actment of this Act is 20,500. 16
(c) U
NITEDSTATESBORDERPATROLPERSONNEL 17
R
EQUIREMENTSDETERMINATIONMODEL.— 18
(1) C
OMPLETION; NOTICE.—Not later than 180 19
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 20
Commissioner shall complete a personnel require-21
ments determination model for United States Border 22
Patrol that builds on the 5-year United States Bor-23
der Patrol staffing and deployment plan referred to 24
on page 33 of House of Representatives Report 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 May 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1444.IS S1444
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3
•S 1444 IS
112–91 (May 26, 2011) and submit a notice of com-1
pletion to— 2
(A) the appropriate congressional commit-3
tees; 4
(B) the Director of the Office of Personnel 5
Management; and 6
(C) the Comptroller General of the United 7
States. 8
(2) C
ERTIFICATION.—Not later than 30 days 9
after the completion of the personnel requirements 10
determination model described in paragraph (1), the 11
Commissioner shall submit a copy of such model and 12
a strategy for obtaining third-party validation of 13
such model, to— 14
(A) the appropriate congressional commit-15
tees; 16
(B) the Office of Personnel Management; 17
and 18
(C) the Comptroller General of the United 19
States. 20
(d) I
NDEPENDENT STUDY OFPERSONNELREQUIRE-21
MENTSDETERMINATIONMODEL.— 22
(1) R
EQUIREMENT FOR STUDY .—Not later than 23
90 days after the completion of the personnel re-24
quirements determination model pursuant to sub-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 May 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1444.IS S1444
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4
•S 1444 IS
section (c)(1), the Secretary of Homeland Security 1
shall enter into a contract with a qualified research 2
entity to conduct a study that analyzes the validity 3
of the model. 4
(2) R
EPORTS.— 5
(A) T
O SECRETARY.—Not later than 1 6
year after the completion of the personnel re-7
quirements determination model under sub-8
section (c)(1), the qualified research entity shall 9
submit a report to the Secretary of Homeland 10
Security that includes— 11
(i) the results of the study required 12
under paragraph (1); and 13
(ii) any recommendations regarding 14
the model that the qualified research entity 15
considers to be appropriate. 16
(B) T
O CONGRESS.—Not later than 30 17
days after receiving the report described in sub-18
paragraph (A), the Secretary of Homeland Se-19
curity shall submit such report, along with any 20
additional views or recommendations regarding 21
the personnel requirements determination 22
model, to the Committee on Homeland Security 23
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 May 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1444.IS S1444
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5
•S 1444 IS
Committee on Homeland Security of the House 1
of Representatives. 2
(e) A
UTHORITYTOADJUSTAUTHORIZED PER-3
SONNELLEVEL.—Beginning on the date that is 180 days 4
after receiving a report pursuant to subsection (d)(2) that 5
validates the personnel requirements determination model, 6
the Secretary of Homeland Security may adjust the au-7
thorized personnel level for the United States Border Pa-8
trol to a level that does not exceed the level recommended 9
by the validated personnel requirements determination 10
model. 11
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF HIGHER MINIMUM RATES OF 12
PAY FOR UNITED STATES BORDER PATROL 13
AGENTS. 14
(a) H
IGHERMINIMUMRATE OFPAY.—Not later 15
than January 1, 2023, the Director of the Office of Per-16
sonnel Management— 17
(1) shall, in accordance with section 5305 of 18
title 5, United States Code— 19
(A) increase the minimum rate of pay for 20
United States Border Patrol agents at the 21
grade GS–12 of the General Schedule by not 22
less than 14 percent; and 23
(B) increase other grades or levels, occupa-24
tional groups, series, classes, or subdivisions 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 May 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1444.IS S1444
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6
•S 1444 IS
thereof, as determined by the Secretary of 1
Homeland Security; and 2
(2) may make increases in all rates in the pay 3
range for each such grade or level, in accordance 4
with such section 5305. 5
(b) I
NAPPLICABILITY.—The discretion granted to 6
agency heads under section 5305(a)(2) of title 5, United 7
States Code, shall not apply to increase in rates of pay 8
authorized under subsection (a). 9
SEC. 4. CONTINUING TRAINING. 10
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Commissioner shall require 11
all United States Border Patrol agents and other employ-12
ees or contracted employees designated by the Commis-13
sioner, to participate in annual continuing training to 14
maintain and update their understanding of— 15
(1) Department of Homeland Security policies, 16
procedures, and guidelines; 17
(2) the fundamentals of law, ethics, and profes-18
sional conduct; 19
(3) applicable Federal law and regulations; 20
(4) precedential legal rulings, including Federal 21
Circuit Court and United States Supreme Court 22
opinions relating to the duty of care and treatment 23
of persons in the custody of the United States Bor-24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 May 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1444.IS S1444
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7
•S 1444 IS
der Patrol that the Commissioner determines are 1
relevant to active duty agents; 2
(5) applicable migration trends that the Com-3
missioner determines are relevant; 4
(6) best practices for coordinating with commu-5
nity stakeholders; and 6
(7) any other information that the Commis-7
sioner determines to be relevant to active duty 8
agents. 9
(b) T
RAININGSUBJECTS.—Continuing training 10
under this subsection shall include training regarding— 11
(1) non-lethal use of force policies available to 12
United States Border Patrol agents and de-esca-13
lation strategies and methods; 14
(2) identifying, screening, and responding to 15
vulnerable populations, such as children, persons 16
with diminished mental capacity, victims of human 17
trafficking, pregnant mothers, victims of gender- 18
based violence, victims of torture or abuse, and the 19
acutely ill; 20
(3) trends in transnational criminal organiza-21
tion activities that impact border security and mi-22
gration; 23
(4) policies, strategies, and programs— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 May 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1444.IS S1444
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8
•S 1444 IS
(A) to protect due process, the civil, 1
human, and privacy rights of individuals, and 2
the private property rights of land owners; 3
(B) to reduce the number of migrant and 4
agent deaths; and 5
(C) to improve the safety of agents on pa-6
trol; 7
(5) personal resilience; 8
(6) anti-corruption and officer ethics training; 9
(7) current migration trends, including updated 10
cultural and societal issues of nations that are a sig-11
nificant source of migrants who are— 12
(A) arriving at a United States port of 13
entry to seek humanitarian protection; or 14
(B) encountered at a United States inter-15
national boundary while attempting to enter 16
without inspection; 17
(8) the impact of border security operations on 18
natural resources and the environment, including 19
strategies to limit the impact of border security op-20
erations on natural resources and the environment; 21
(9) relevant cultural, societal, racial, and reli-22
gious training, including cross-cultural communica-23
tion skills; 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 May 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1444.IS S1444
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9
•S 1444 IS
(10) training authorized under the Prison Rape 1
Elimination Act of 2003 (42 U.S.C. 15601 et seq.); 2
(11) risk management and safety training that 3
includes agency protocols for ensuring public safety, 4
personal safety, and the safety of persons in the cus-5
tody of the Department of Homeland Security; 6
(12) non-lethal, self-defense training; and 7
(13) any other training that meets the require-8
ments to maintain and update the subjects identified 9
in subsection (a). 10
(c) C
OURSEREQUIREMENTS.—Courses offered under 11
this section— 12
(1) shall be administered by the United States 13
Border Patrol, in consultation with the Federal Law 14
Enforcement Training Center; and 15
(2) shall be approved in advance by the Com-16
missioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to 17
ensure that such courses satisfy the requirements for 18
training under this section. 19
(d) A
SSESSMENT.—Not later than 2 years after the 20
date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 21
of the United States shall submit a report to the Com-22
mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 23
of the Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security 24
of the House of Representatives that assesses the training 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 May 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1444.IS S1444
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10
•S 1444 IS
and education provided pursuant to this section, including 1
continuing education. 2
(e) F
REQUENCYREQUIREMENTS.—Training offered 3
as part of continuing education under this section shall 4
include— 5
(1) annual courses focusing on the curriculum 6
described in paragraphs (1) through (6) of sub-7
section (b); and 8
(2) biannual courses focusing on curriculum de-9
scribed in paragraphs (7) through (12) of subsection 10
(b). 11
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 May 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1444.IS S1444
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB