Jenniffer González Presents A Measure To Study The Technologies Necessary To Secure The Maritime Border

Press Release

The resident commissioner, Jenniffer González Colón, presented the project H.R. 8056, the Maritime Border Security Technology Enhancement Act, which complements the congresswoman's agenda to combat criminal threats along the United States maritime border, and especially in waters near Puerto Rich.

The H.R. 8056, specifically requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to study the need for new and modern technologies, as well as the gaps that exist to secure the United States maritime border.

This diagnosis must consider factors such as: 1) what technologies are necessary to combat criminal activity along the maritime border, including drug and human trafficking; 2) technology to strengthen maritime domain surveillance and detection and interdiction capabilities; 3) recent technological advances that have the potential to enhance maritime border security efforts; 4) trends in migration and illicit contraband flows; 5) challenges faced by DHS personnel stationed at the maritime border, such as the Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations (CBP AMO); and 6) efforts to increase cooperation among the entities involved in such security and surveillance efforts.

The bipartisan measure also requires that a plan be developed to address the results of the study and, in turn, propose what technologies should be developed or acquired to meet these needs.

"A large part of my agenda has been aimed at combating the transnational criminal organizations that use Puerto Rico as a destination and transshipment point for illicit drugs. We have coordinated efforts with DHS, the Coast Guard, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), and secured federal resources for the local side, for a better and more robust response. However, maritime authorities continue to report illicit activity and practices on the maritime borders of the United States, including the waters near Puerto Rico. For this reason, I promote my project H.R. 8056, which focuses on modernizing and reinforcing the available technologies to secure our maritime border," said González Colón.

Representatives Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), Steven Palazzo (R-MS) and Mike Waltz (R-FL) are co-authors of the commissioner's measure.

Anti-Drug Efforts

In 2018, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation authored by the commissioner that was subsequently signed into law as part of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Section 1813 of P.L. 115-254), which required that the Secretary of DHS carry out a detailed analysis of the threat to the maritime border of the United States, including the so-called Transit Zone and the borders and territorial waters of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands of the United States.

Congresswomen González Colón and Stephanie Murphy also secured legislative language in 2019 requiring the ONDCP to regularly update the Caribbean Border Counternarcotics Strategy, which had last been published in 2015. In response to this language, the ONDCP published and reviewed the strategy in July 2020 and April 2022.

Other efforts include the visit of former ONDCP director Jim Carroll to Puerto Rico, at the commissioner's invitation, to meet with federal and local law enforcement agencies on the Island and discuss drug trafficking; letters requesting the allocation of resources to improve public safety; and the acquisition of better and more modern equipment to improve the effectiveness of border security missions on the Island, such as the new MH-60 helicopters that the Coast Guard already has at the Borinquen Air Station in Aguadilla thanks to the support of the congressman in the budget allocation of the federal government for fiscal year 2021.

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