The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act gave the IRS a pool of money to beef up enforcement and audit higher-income tax evaders. This bill takes every dollar still unspent and redirects it — two-thirds to build more border wall along the southern border, one-third to install full-scale scanning technology at border ports of entry by 2034. It also lets Customs and Border Protection pay up to $15,000 in hiring bonuses and 15% retention and relocation bonuses to agents. Affects IRS enforcement capacity directly, and could reshape how drugs and people are detected at the border.
Congressional Summary
Securing our Border ActThis bill addresses issues concerning border security and immigration, including by transferring unobligated funds from the Internal Revenue Service to certain border-related projects.Specifically, the bill transfers certain unobligated funds previously appropriated for tax enforcement activities (e.g., collecting owed taxes and conducting criminal investigations) to fund (1) nonintrusive inspection systems along the northern border and southwest border of the United States, and (2) the construction of a border wall system along the southwest border.The bill also authorizes the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to pay recruitment, retention, and relocation bonuses, subject to various requirements and limitations. For example, a relocation bonus may not exceed 15% of the agent's annual basic bay and must be conditioned on the agent agreeing to serve for at least three years at the new duty station.The bill also modifies the treatment of non-U.S. nationals (aliens under federal law) arriving by land from a country next to the United States. Specifically, if such an individual is not clearly entitled to admission into the United States, the Department of Justice must (1) return the individual to that neighboring country or a safe third country while removal proceedings are pending, or (2) detain the individual while the individual's asylum application is under consideration. (Current law authorizes DOJ to return the individual to the neighboring country but does not require such action or detention.)
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2025-07-25
- Date Added
- 2026-04-19