Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2024

Floor Speech

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Mrs. Gonzalez-Colon. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 7659, the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2024. In Puerto Rico, we are the proud home to Sector San Juan and Air Station Borinquen. We know firsthand the important role our men and women in the Coast Guard play each day to save lives, protect our maritime borders, and facilitate commerce. That is why I was proud to cosponsor this important piece of legislation, which will provide needed authorities and resources to support our Coasties and strengthen the Service's critical missions.

I am especially pleased the bill includes two provisions I authored-- Sections 205 and 206--to help improve the Coast Guard's drug and migrant interdiction activities. Section 205 would direct the Coast Guard to submit a report to Congress providing an overview of the maritime domain awareness in Sector San Juan, which is responsible for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and oversees an area of responsibility spanning 1.3 million square nautical miles in the Eastern Caribbean.

Over the last few years, we have seen an increase in smuggling events in the region. In Fiscal Year 2021, the Coast Guard interdicted 758 migrants in the Mona Passage and waters near Puerto Rico. These numbers increased substantially in Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023, when the Coast Guard interdicted 2,395 and 2,228 migrants, respectively, in the Sector San Juan area of responsibility. Through April 30, 2024, the Coast Guard had already interdicted 1,199 migrants in waters near Puerto Rico, with five months still remaining to conclude Fiscal Year 2024.

Similarly, according to data shared by the Coast Guard with my office, from Fiscal Years 2019 to 2022, the known maritime cocaine flow to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands--either coming directly from South America or via the Dominican Republic--increased by over 115 percent, from 51 metric tons to 110 metric tons. During the past five years, Coast Guard narcotics seizures in the Sector San Juan area of responsibility increased by over 74 percent, from 6.6 metric tons in Fiscal Year 2019 to 11.5 metric tons in Fiscal Year 2023.

There has also been a rise in violence associated with these events. In November 2022, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection marine interdiction agent was shot and killed, and his two partners gravely injured, when drug smugglers opened fire during an interdiction off the coast of Cabo Rojo, in southwestern Puerto Rico. Two months later, another gunfight during a vessel interdiction off the coast of Fajardo in northeastern Puerto Rico resulted in the death of two drug smugglers.

The Coast Guard plays a leading role combatting these and other threats we face from transnational criminal organizations and smugglers operating in the Caribbean. It is therefore essential we ensure they have the necessary resources to effectively tackle the rise in illicit maritime activity around Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Section 205 would help achieve this by directing the Coast Guard to report on maritime domain awareness gaps in the region and identify technologies, assets, and capabilities that would help address such gaps.

The second provision I authored, Section 206, seeks to improve transparency by requiring the Coast Guard to publish on its website the number of drug and migrant interdictions carried out by the Service each month. In the Don Young Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022, Congress included a provision requiring the publication of monthly migrant interdiction statistics. Section 206 would build on this and expand the requirement to also include data on drug seizures. It would also require additional information such as the number of migrants interdicted, the amount and type of drugs that are seized, and the geographic location of such interdictions.

I want to conclude by thanking and commending House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves and Ranking Member Rick Larsen, as well as Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee Chairman Daniel Webster and Ranking Member Salud Carbajal, for their leadership on H.R. 7659. I urge my colleagues to support this important bill and ensure we provide the men and women of the Coast Guard the support they deserve. subcommittee staff director John Rayfield. I also thank Reed Linsk, Cameron Humphrey, Nicole Bredariol, Ian Orr and all of the Transportation and Infrastructure full committee staff who have worked on getting us here today, including staff director Jack Ruddy. I also want to thank the Transportation and Infrastructure minority full committee staff led by Kathy Dedrick and subcommittee staff led by Matt Dwyer.

This legislation provides the support that the men and women of the United States Coast Guard need to do their jobs.

It improves maritime safety, will help our Nation confront drug and human traffickers off our coast, and counter undue Chinese influence in the Pacific.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support of this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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