releases: https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=277e8a0f-5732-4b8f-a44c-6d1c4a1526da
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=277e8a0f-5732-4b8f-a44c-6d1c4a1526da | SENATOR JOHN McCAIN INTRODUCES BILL TO ADDRESS BORDER PATROL STAFFING CRISIS AT RURAL BORDER PATROL STATIONS & PORTS OF ENTRY | 2015-12-08 | 2015 | 2015-12 | Republican | House | AZ | John McCain | M000303 | www.mccain.senate.gov | legacy | Washington, D.C. U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) introduced a bill today that would allow the men and women serving as U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents and officers to earn hardship duty pay when assigned to highly trafficked rural areas along the U.S. border. This pay would incentivize well-trained agents and officers to work at some of the most demanding stations and ports along our border to keep our communities safe and facilitate cross-border trade. Currently, Border Patrol is almost 1,000 agents under the 21,370-agent minimum set by Congress. At our ports of entry, CBP has hired less than 1,000 of the 2,000 additional officers that were funded by Congress in 2014 and remains short of the congressionally mandated staffing level of 23,775.Increased attrition, particularly in rural areas along the border, has compounded this staffing shortfall. At the Tucson Field Operations Office, there has been a net loss of 27 CBP officers over the last fiscal year, even with new funding to hire additional officers. Ive seen first-hand the staffing crisis we are facing at border stations and ports of entry in some of the most rural and highly trafficked areas along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, said Senator McCain. This shortage not only leaves us with a gaping hole in national security, but it also harms our ability to facilitate much-needed trade across the border. We need to do more to attract and retain well-trained and effective Border Patrol agents at demanding stations and ports, and this bill offers an important way to do that so we can keep our communities safe and grow our local economies. Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council; Guillermo Valencia, chairman of the Greater Nogales Santa Cruz County Port Authority; and Lance Jungmeyer, president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas also praised the legislation: We thank Senator McCain for his leadership and hard work over the past 20 years to help secure our border and protect our communities, said Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council. This legislation will assist CBP in recruiting and retaining high-caliber agents in some of the most remote regions of the border. Senator McCains approach makes sense and is critical to our long-term border security strategy. Our ports of entry continue to be severely understaffed, said Guillermo Valencia, Chairman of the Greater Nogales Santa Cruz County Port Authority. We are excited to see this initiative as it provides an additional incentive for prospective recruits to look at our border as an area of growth and opportunity. We remain committed to working with Senator McCain and our federal partners to fully staff our ports of entry. We have seen the difficulties in attracting and retaining good Customs officers in rural areas of the Southwest Border, said Lance Jungmeyer, president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas. This is a much-needed boost to put boots on the ground at the ports of entry where they are needed most. The text of the legislation is attached. ### | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |