McSally: Border residents need results, not rhetoric

Cochise County rancher Frank Krentz talked about the day his father was killed, at a hearing I held in Sahuarita in June to highlight what our residents experience along the border.

“Almost six years ago one morning my cousin, my uncle, my father and myself sat down for breakfast and talked about what we were going to do for the day,” he said. “When we finished, my cousin and I went to move cows while my father went to check a motor and my uncle went to check other waters on the ranch. That was the last time I saw my father.”

Other residents who spoke represented law enforcement, local officials, Border Patrol, ranchers, farmers and nonprofits, and their testimony painted a vivid picture of the real-world dangers, challenges and opportunities of border life.

For many around the country, the border is a distant concept. For Southern Arizonans, it’s a reality, and that’s why I’ve fought hard to get real results that will make our communities safer and expand the cross-border trade that is so important to Arizona’s economy and has the potential to be a major area of economic growth and jobs for our community.

In my first month in office, I brought over 20 members of Congress to the border to see it first-hand. Since then, I’ve had four border-related bills pass the House and one signed into law.

As the recently appointed chairwoman of the Border and Maritime Security subcommittee, I’ve held hearings in Southern Arizona and Washington, D.C., and those hearings have highlighted the glaring flaws in our failed border strategy.

A hearing I held in March revealed the serious gaps in how D.C. agencies even measure border security, including the fact that they only have real-time situational awareness of about 50 percent of the border. That leaves almost 1,000 miles between the U.S. and Mexico unaccounted for.

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Our agents do all they can with the tools and direction they are given, but we will never fix our broken border strategy until we have an accurate picture of how we’re getting beat by the cartels. That’s why I introduced legislation that passed the House to conduct a mile-by-mile threat assessment of our southern border, something that hasn’t happened in over 20 years. The assessment will report where we have vulnerabilities, where we can better leverage technology and manpower, and what percentage of situational awareness and operational control we have.

We must also ensure we are using our resources smartly and efficiently. In the past, wasteful and mismanaged border technology programs have cost taxpayers billions of dollars without doing anything to secure the border.

I’ve introduced legislation that passed the House to improve the management and oversight of new border technology projects and inject badly needed accountability into some of DHS’ largest acquisitions programs.

Mexico is our state’s largest foreign market, and while Customs and Border Protection officers do all they can to facilitate the smooth flow of products, our ports are understaffed by more than 940 officers. Additional resources have failed to make a dent in the staffing crisis, which is why we need better, more creative solutions.

While we can agree it is important to vet all applicants for these critical security positions, CBP’s hiring process is too long and cumbersome — causing many qualified applicants to give up . That’s why I shepherded my first bill into law that fast-tracks veterans for jobs at our border ports of entry. Many of our returning veterans already possess the skills and qualifications needed for jobs along the border, and my legislation has been labeled a “game changer” by one DHS official.

In addition, I’ve fought to expand our infrastructure locally to ensure we’re maximizing on trade opportunities. I successfully added four Southern Arizona transportation infrastructure projects to long-term funding legislation and have worked to add the Douglas Port of Entry to DHS’ list of upgrade priorities.

The problems along our border affect all of us, but they are not insurmountable. They will take leadership and a commitment to find real solutions, not just rhetoric. My work as the chairwoman of the border subcommittee has shed light on where our strategy needs fixes. My bills that passed the House and one that became law will help improve our strategy, boost staffing at our ports of entry and help grow our economy. And my efforts to hold a hearing locally and highlight Southern Arizona experiences makes sure our residents’ voices get heard.