WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Rick Scott and Senator Kyrsten Sinema introduced the Continuing High-Quality Evaluations of Concerning and Known Persons of Interest through National Training Updates (CHECKPOINT) Act. This bipartisan bill will require regular updates to the Checkpoint Program Management Office’s drug seizure data collection categories; require updates to training to best handle what the officers and agents see in the field, and require that the Checkpoint Program Management Office is consistently staffed. This legislation makes recommended changes to the procedures following reports from the Government Accountability Office.

Senator Rick Scott said, “It’s heart-wrenching and terrifying that fentanyl continues to flow across our southern border and into U.S. communities where it takes more lives every single day. We cannot allow this drug to continue endangering American families. This commonsense legislation will make several updates to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection training and procedures of the Checkpoint Program Management Office to ensure we are doing everything possible to seize these drugs from dangerous criminals before they harm our communities. I’m glad to have bipartisan support for the Continuing High-quality Evaluations of Concerning and Known Persons of Interest through National Training Updates (CHECKPOINT) Act, and I’m hopeful for its quick passage.”

Senator Kyrsten Sinema, Chair of the Border Management Subcommittee, said, “Our commonsense, bipartisan bill secures our border and strengthens our response to cross-border smuggling – allowing Border Patrol agents to do their jobs and keep dangerous individuals and drugs out of our communities.”

The Continuing High-Quality Evaluations of Concerning and Known Persons of Interest through National Training Updates (CHECKPOINT) Act, will:

• Require regular updates to the Checkpoint Program Management Office’s drug seizure data collection categories:
• In consultation with the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection National Targeting Center, and other relevant intelligence or law enforcement components of the Department of Homeland Security, assess the drug type categories available in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection data systems to determine if these categories adequately reflect the drug smuggling scenarios encountered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and agents;
• Evaluate the drug seizures portion of the National Field Training Program to ensure proper classification and recording of seized narcotics; and
• Assess the effectiveness of U.S. Customs and Border Protection efforts to combat human smuggling.
• Require updates to training to best handle what the officers and agents see in the field:
• Establish the Southern Border Intelligence Center to develop an understanding of the threat in the environment along the international border between the United States and Mexico and report annually to Congress regarding the threat situation along such border;
• Develop an intelligence research specialist career path, training requirements, and intelligence enterprise training academy to support border security, counter narcotics, and checkpoint operations; and
• Require all intelligence research specialists are trained to the applicable performance standards.
• Require that the U.S. Border Patrol submit an annual report to Congress that describes the actions undertaken to ensure the Checkpoint Program Management Office, in coordination with U.S. Border Patrol sectors, is overseeing the consistent and accurate recording of immigration checkpoint activity data, including drug seizures. It will also require the Checkpoint Program Management Office to be consistently staffed.

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