In October, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., requested in a letter that the Government Accountability Office conduct a “top to bottom” review of how CBP has used the $1.9 billion it has received to enhance border screening since 2018. That review is underway by the GAO, according to a spokesperson for the watchdog.
In the letter, the Republican lawmakers complained that while CBP has received almost $2 billion to boost scanning, the percentage of personal vehicles scanned is only 2%.
Miller said he still needs $200 million or $300 million to put the equipment that CBP purchased into the ground.
He said that CBP is scanning less than 5% of personal vehicles and that by the end of 2025 he wants it to be able to scan 40% of personal vehicles.
Miller said it would not be practical to try to scan 100% of the vehicles crossing the border, because of the volume of traffic. With 1 million people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border every day, he said, scanning every vehicle would “shut down legitimate trade and travel.”