McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) – Four bipartisan lawmakers from the Southwest border questioned Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem Tuesday on border spending, and suggested ways her agency can improve border security.
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Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar and Veronica Escobar, and Republican Reps. Tony Gonzales, all of Texas, and Juan Ciscomani, of Arizona, took turns questioning, and at times grilling Noem, during the nearly 3-hour-long hearing Tuesday by the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee in Washington, D.C.
Cuellar told Noem that only one-third of cameras on the border operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection are working “Two-thirds are not working. That’s not right,” he said.
A mobile video surveillance system, commonly called a “scope” truck is seen March 7, 2024, on the border in Hidalgo, Texas. (Sandra Sanchez/Border Report File Photo)
And “dead zones is a real problem. There are areas they can’t even talk or communicate,” he said.
Cuellar said despite billions of dollars spent on border technology, “there are certain areas and dangerous areas that Border Patrol don’t have technology that’s working.”
Noem went before lawmakers to advocate for over $175 billion in funding for DHS in Fiscal Year 2026, which starts Oct. 1. This includes increases in funds to build more miles of border barrier, increased border technology, more officers, and collaboration with local law enforcement at the border.
The U.S. Homeland Security Department headquarters in northwest Washington is pictured on Feb. 25, 2015. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
The Trump administration is requesting a reconciliation bill, which is a fast-track process that would allow passage in the Senate by a simple majority, instead of 60 votes.
“Reconciliation would empower the DHS to implement the president’s mass removal campaign and secure the border,” Noem said in her written statement.
She told the committee that under President Donald Trump’s second-term daily border encounters in March were down 93% by Border Patrol agents. She said that equates to under 200 migrants encountered by agents per day, down from over 15,000 per day at times during the Biden administration.
In March, she said trafficking of fentanyl dropped by 54% from March 2024 at the border.
But she said in order to continue to carry out the Trump administration’s goals, Congress needs to fund border security missions in Fiscal 2026. She specifically stressed the need for increased funding of the U.S. Coast Guard – which is under DHS.
She says maritime drug and human trafficking encounters have drastically increased recently.
Members of the Coast Guard guard seized cocaine in Los Angeles on Aug. 29, 2019. Maritime drug seizures are increasing, as well as maritime human trafficking, DHS says. (AP File Photo/Chris Carlson, file)
“The Coast Guard has already surpassed its funds for Fiscal Year 2025 with the number of drug interdiction coastal encounters and search and rescue and illegal interdictions,” Noem said.
In March, she said the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized nearly 232,000 pounds of fentanyl and other illegal drugs.
Cuellar told Noem he believes improvements need to be made on what he calls the border “basics.” The South Texas lawmaker from Laredo told her that river roads – which would follow along the trajectory of the Rio Grande, not run parallel to it – need to be made to allow Border Patrol agents better access to those trying to illegally cross into the country.
Border highway connecting to planned port of entry being demolished
He also said that carrizo cane plants need to be cut down on the riverbanks for agents to see those who are crossing.
And he urges DHS to rid the Rio Grande of islands that are in the middle of the river, which he says “the bad guys will come in and use those islands to come over.”
He also told Noem to hire new Border Patrol agents, and he said “the polygraph exam is the biggest problem to hiring BP agents.”
He said in Fiscal Year 2025, Congress approved a Border Patrol force of 22,000, but currently there are only 19,327 agents.
Escobar questioned DHS’s use of funds and said she worries the agency does not follow the Constitution because of recent reports of U.S. children being deported.
Noem defended the removals, saying the children were part of families with non-citizens who chose to stay together.
Ciscomani, said there have been 65,000 “gottaways” so far in Fiscal Year 2025 and asked how best to stop people from illegally crossing into the United States.
Noem replied the maritime borders need to be strengthened and once again pushed the need for increased funding for the Coast Guard.
“We have seen numbers pushed heavily toward the maritime borders. The Coast Guard is seeing much more trafficking and cartel,” she said. “The Coast Guard has been neglected for many, many years.”
Coast Guard intercepts boat with 9 migrants off coast of Point Loma
She added that surveillance equipment including added cameras, satellites, and Aerostats, as well as scanners at ports of entry are priorities for use with new funds.
And she said the administration will continue to work with Mexican officials to deter people from attempting to cross into the United States. She said an estimated 600,000 immigrants are thought to have been deterred from the border by Mexican officers.
Gonzales asked if Texas would be reimbursed for the $11 billion it has spent on border security through Operation Lone Star.
Noem complimented Texas, as well as other states that have sent National Guard to the border “and stepped up and filled the gap” but said there have not been any decisions on whether states will be reimbursed.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
