Bill > HR5525

This bill, the Continuing Appropriations and Border Security Enhancement Act, 2024, makes continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2024 and includes significant provisions related to border security and immigration enforcement. * **Continuing Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2024:** The bill provides funding to continue government operations at the rate of operations provided in fiscal year 2023, with an overall reduction of 8.1285 percent, resulting in an annualized discretionary budget authority of $1,590,000,000,000. This reduction does not apply to national defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, or disaster relief. The funding is set to expire on October 31, 2023, or upon the enactment of a regular appropriations bill. * **Border Security Enhancements:** * **Border Wall Construction:** Mandates the immediate resumption of border wall construction activities that were underway or planned prior to January 20, 2021, using unexpired funds appropriated for this purpose. It also requires a plan to complete 200 miles of wall construction annually. * **Strengthening Barriers:** Amends existing law to require the construction of a border wall, including physical barriers, tactical infrastructure, and technology, along at least 900 miles of the southwest border. It also grants the Secretary of Homeland Security broad authority to waive legal requirements for the expeditious design, construction, and maintenance of these barriers. * **Technology Investment:** Requires a 5-year strategic technology investment plan for border and port security, focusing on risk analysis, capability gaps, and technology acquisitions. * **CBP Personnel and Technology:** Authorizes appropriations for CBP technology upgrades, including secure communications and license plate readers. It also aims to increase the number of Border Patrol agents to at least 22,000 full-time equivalents and authorizes funds for retention bonuses. * **Operation Stonegarden:** Authorizes $110,000,000 annually from fiscal years 2024 through 2028 for grants to eligible law enforcement agencies to enhance border security. * **Air and Marine Operations:** Mandates at least 110,000 annual flight hours for Air and Marine Operations and requires unmanned aircraft systems to operate on the southern border for at least 24 hours per day. * **Eradication of Invasive Plants:** Directs the Secretary to hire contractors to eradicate carrizo cane and salt cedar along the Rio Grande River that impede border security operations by September 30, 2027. * **Immigration Enforcement and Asylum Reform:** * **Asylum Eligibility Changes:** Modifies rules for asylum eligibility, including stricter criteria for transit through other countries, expanded grounds for denial (e.g., certain criminal convictions, domestic violence, driving offenses), and limitations on employment authorization for asylum applicants. * **Family Detention:** Clarifies standards for family detention, stating there is no presumption against detaining alien children who are not unaccompanied alien children and requiring the detention of such children with their parents. * **Repatriation of Unaccompanied Alien Children:** Amends provisions related to unaccompanied alien children, aiming for swifter repatriation if they are not victims of trafficking and do not fear return, and requires the sharing of information about sponsors with Homeland Security. * **Visa Overstay Penalties:** Expands penalties for illegal entry or presence and introduces new penalties for visa overstays. * **Immigration Parole Reform:** Significantly reforms the parole process, narrowing its scope to specific urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefits, and prohibiting its use for mass processing of aliens. * **Restrictions on Funding:** Prohibits the use of funds for processing aliens arriving between ports of entry, for nongovernmental organizations facilitating unlawful activity or illegal immigration, and restricts the use of the CBP One app for parole purposes.