Bipartisan Senate bill targets border human, drug trafficking with innovative technology

FIRST ON FOX: Democrat Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy are reaching across the aisle to roll out a measure that would quickly deliver new and effective technologies to strengthen law enforcement’s ability to combat human and drug trafficking at the border, Fox News Digital has learned. 

Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Cassidy, R-La., are working together to introduce the “Emerging Innovative Border Technologies Act,” which would make innovation teams at U.S. Customs and Border Protection permanent. Innovation teams were first created at the agency in 2018. 

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The bill would authorize the Customs and Border Protection commissioner to maintain one or more innovation teams to research and adapt commercial technologies to assist in border security operations and urgent mission needs. 

Democrat Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, pictured here, and Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy are reaching across the aisle to roll out a measure that would quickly deliver new and effective technologies to strengthen law enforcement’s ability to combat human and drug trafficking at the border.  (David Peinado/Anadolu via Getty Images and Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

It also would require the Department of Homeland Security to submit a plan to Congress that assesses the performance parameters and security impacts of potential technologies, as well as the deactivation of former Customs and Border Protection technology. 

“Technology continues to improve our everyday lives, and it’s just common sense that we look for ways innovative technologies can help keep our border communities secure,” Cortez Maso told Fox News Digital. “I am committed to helping CBP continue developing the tools they need to improve border security operations.”

“President Trump secured the southern border in his first 30 days,” Cassidy told Fox News Digital. “Let’s secure the border forever by using new technology.” 

He added: “Let’s stop fentanyl from flowing into our country.”

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The senators told Fox News Digital that investments in border security technology will “strengthen CBP’s detection and response time to cases of trafficking and illicit border crossings in remote areas.” 

The legislation would make innovation teams a more permanent and long-lasting part of Customs and Border operations. 

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., pictured here, and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., are working together to introduce the “Emerging Innovative Border Technologies Act.”  (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A Cortez Masto aide told Fox News Digital that the senator has been working to crack down on cross-border crime since she was attorney general in Nevada. The aide highlighted Cortez Masto’s work with Republicans in the state, along with Mexican officials, to combat the rise of methamphetamine manufacturing and cross-border drug trafficking. 

In the Senate, she has authored legislation to combat drug trafficking online, which was signed into law; and passed legislation to eliminate illegal fentanyl supply chains. Cortez Masto has also introduced a bill that would crack down on the deadly fentanyl additive xylazine.

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Meanwhile, a similar version of the “Emerging Innovative Border Technologies Act” was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., and Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas. 

Apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border have plummeted 93% under President Donald Trump’s administration, according to new data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection released Monday.

Border patrol agents monitor an area near the U.S.-Mexican border in Sunland Park, New Mexico, Jan. 25, 2025. (Jorge Salgado/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Customs and Border Protection says it averaged 279 apprehensions per day at the southern border in April, compared to 4,297 apprehensions in April 2024. The total apprehensions for April landed at 8,383, compared to April 2024’s 129,000.

Customs and Border Protection officials also noted that just five illegal aliens were temporarily released into the U.S. during April, compared to 68,000 during the same month in 2024. 

Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.