II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 625
To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a pilot program
to hire transitioning servicemembers to be Border Patrol agents.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY18, 2025
Mr. B
LUMENTHAL(for himself and Mr. LANKFORD) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish
a pilot program to hire transitioning servicemembers to
be Border Patrol agents.
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 ‘‘Veterans Border Pa-4
trol Training Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. BORDER PATROL SKILLBRIDGE PILOT PROGRAM. 6
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 7
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 8
Homeland Security, in collaboration with the Secretary of 9
Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, shall estab-10
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•S 625 IS
lish an interdepartmental pilot program through which the 1
Department of Homeland Security shall use the Depart-2
ment of Defense SkillBridge Program to train and hire 3
transitioning servicemembers as Border Patrol agents for 4
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 5
(b) E
MPLOYMENT SKILLSTRAINING.—In carrying 6
out the pilot program established pursuant to subsection 7
(a), the Secretary of Homeland Security, in collaboration 8
with the Secretary of Defense, shall use the authorities 9
available under section 1143 of title 10, United States 10
Code, to train and facilitate the transition of members of 11
the Armed Forces to service as Border Patrol agents. 12
SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORTS. 13
Not later than 1 year after the pilot program is estab-14
lished pursuant to section 2(a), and annually thereafter 15
until the date referred to in section 4, the Secretary of 16
Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of 17
Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, shall sub-18
mit a report to the Committee on Homeland Security and 19
Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on 20
Armed Services of the Senate, the Committee on Veterans’ 21
Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on Homeland Secu-22
rity of the House of Representatives, the Committee on 23
Armed Services of the House of Representatives, and the 24
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•S 625 IS
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep-1
resentatives that includes for the reporting period— 2
(1) the number of participants in the pilot pro-3
gram; 4
(2) the number of eligible participants who ap-5
plied to be part of the pilot program; and 6
(3) the number of pilot program participants 7
who are— 8
(A) members the Armed Forces; 9
(B) reserve members of the Armed Forces; 10
(C) commissioned officers or non-commis-11
sioned officers; 12
(D) enlisted members of the Armed 13
Forces; 14
(E) veterans; 15
(F) spouses of such members of the Armed 16
Forces or veterans; and 17
(G) dependents of such members of the 18
Armed Forces or veterans. 19
SEC. 4. SUNSET DATE. 20
The pilot program established pursuant to section 2 21
shall be terminated on the date that is 5 years after the 22
date on which such program is established. 23
Æ
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