The bill
Northern Border Security Enhancement and Review Act
HR. 5517, 119th Congress — read as touching Law Enforcement & Surveillance Tech.
Sponsored by
Rep. Langworthy, Nicholas A. [R-NY-23]
ID: L000600
Follow the money
The bill
HR. 5517, 119th Congress — read as touching Law Enforcement & Surveillance Tech.
The sponsor
Every bill has someone who introduced it. That name is where the paper trail starts.
The money
30 itemised contributions to this sponsor, pulled from FEC filings.
The alignment
This bill's text tracks the "Introduction" section, p. 180-182 of the Mandate for Leadership.
Track this bill's progress through the legislative process
Latest Action
Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 28 - 2.
June 23, 2026
📍 Current Status
Next: The bill will be reviewed by relevant committees who will debate, amend, and vote on it.
1. Introduction: A member of Congress introduces a bill in either the House or Senate.
2. Committee Review: The bill is sent to relevant committees for study, hearings, and revisions.
3. Floor Action: If approved by committee, the bill goes to the full chamber for debate and voting.
4. Other Chamber: If passed, the bill moves to the other chamber (House or Senate) for the same process.
5. Conference: If both chambers pass different versions, a conference committee reconciles the differences.
6. Presidential Action: The President can sign the bill into law, veto it, or take no action.
7. Became Law: If signed (or if Congress overrides a veto), the bill becomes law!
Another masterclass in legislative theater, courtesy of the geniuses on Capitol Hill. Let's dissect this farce, shall we?
**Main Purpose & Objectives:** The Northern Border Security Enhancement and Review Act (HR 5517) claims to aim at enhancing security along the northern border by requiring updates to the threat analysis and strategy. How quaint. It's like they think we're born yesterday. The real purpose is to create a veneer of action, while actually doing nothing to address the underlying issues.
**Key Provisions & Changes to Existing Law:** The bill amends the Northern Border Security Review Act to require biennial updates to the threat analysis and strategy. Oh, wow, every two years, we'll get to revisit the same tired talking points and pretend like something's being done. The Secretary of Homeland Security will also provide classified briefings to congressional committees because, you know, secrecy is always a great way to ensure accountability. And, of course, there are performance measures to assess the effectiveness of Air and Marine Operations (AMO) at securing the northern border – because metrics are always a great way to obfuscate the fact that nothing's actually changing.
**Affected Parties & Stakeholders:** The usual suspects: politicians looking for soundbites, bureaucrats seeking to justify their existence, and voters who will inevitably be duped into thinking something meaningful is being accomplished. Meanwhile, the actual stakeholders – those living along the border, law enforcement, and, you know, the people who might actually be affected by these "enhancements" – are just pawns in this game of legislative charades.
**Potential Impact & Implications:** The impact will be precisely zero. This bill is a placebo, a sugar pill designed to make everyone feel like something's being done without actually addressing the underlying issues. It's a classic case of "security theater," where the appearance of security is more important than actual security. The implications are that we'll continue to waste resources on bureaucratic busywork, while the real problems along the border – corruption, inefficiency, and lack of effective policy – will persist, unchecked.
In medical terms, this bill is akin to treating a patient's symptoms without addressing the underlying disease. It's like giving a patient with terminal cancer a band-aid and calling it a day. The disease – in this case, the dysfunction and corruption that plagues our border security – will continue to metastasize, while our intrepid lawmakers pat themselves on the back for "doing something." How delightful.
Rep. Langworthy, Nicholas A. [R-NY-23]
Congress 119 • 2024 Election Cycle
No committee contributions found
This bill has 10 cosponsors. Below are their top campaign contributors.
ID: A000379
Top Contributors
10
ID: W000814
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ID: L000599
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ID: S001196
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ID: S001212
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ID: S001148
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ID: C001120
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ID: T000478
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ID: Z000018
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ID: L000596
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No contribution data available
Hub layout: Politicians in center, donors arranged by type in rings around them.
Showing 73 nodes and 45 connections (72 secondary connections hidden)
Total contributions: $186,850
Showing top 24 donors by contribution amount
Which industries are materially affected by specific provisions in this bill. 2 helped.
Section 2(b) requires updates to the northern border strategy, which may benefit law enforcement and surveillance technology vendors by providing them with more information to inform their operations and product development.
Section 2(d) mentions the development of performance measures to assess the effectiveness of Air and Marine Operations (AMO) at securing the northern border, which may lead to increased contracts for defense contractors providing surveillance and security equipment.
This bill shows semantic similarity to the following sections of the Project 2025 policy document.
— 147 — Department of Homeland Security Personnel USCIS should be classified as a national security–sensitive agency, and all of its employees should be classified as holding national security–sensitive posi- tions. Leaks must be investigated and punished as they would be in a national security agency, and the union should be decertified. Any employees who cannot accept that change and cannot conform their behavior to the standards required by such an agency should be separated. USCIS’s D.C. personnel presence should be skeletal, and agency employees with operational or security roles should be rotated out to offices throughout the United States. These USCIS employees should live and work in the communities that are most affected by their daily duties and decisions. NECESSARY BORDER AND IMMIGRATION STATUTORY, REGULATORY, AND ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES The current border security crisis was made possible by glaring loopholes in our immigration system. The result was a preventable and predictable his- toric increase in illegal and inadmissible encounters along our southern border. This pulled limited resources from the front lines of our nation’s borders and away from their national security mission, releasing a vast and complex set of threats into our country. To regain our sovereignty, integrity, and security, Congress must pass meaningful legislation to close the current loopholes and prevent future Administrations from exploiting them for political gain or per- sonal ideology. Legislative Proposals l Title 42 authority in Title 8. Create an authority akin to the Title 42 Public Health authority that has been used during the COVID-19 pandemic to expel illegal aliens across the border immediately when certain non- health conditions are met, such as loss of operational control of the border. l Mandatory appropriation for border wall system infrastructure. The monies appropriated would be used to fund the construction of additional border wall systems, technology, and personnel in strategic locations in accordance with the Border Security Improvement Plan (BSIP). l Appropriation for Port of Entry infrastructure. Border security is not addressed solely by systems in between the ports of entry. POEs require technology and physical upgrades as well as an influx of personnel to meet capacity demands and act as the literal gatekeepers for the country. This is the first line of defense against drug and human smuggling operations. — 148 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise l Unaccompanied minors 1. Congress should repeal Section 235 of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA),9 which provides numerous immigration benefits to unaccompanied alien children and only encourages more parents to send their children across the border illegally and unaccompanied. These children too often become trafficking victims, which means that the TVPRA has failed. 2. If an alternative to repealing Section 235 of the TVPRA is necessary, the section should be amended so that all unaccompanied children, regardless of nationality, may be returned to their home countries in a safe and efficient manner. Currently, the TVPRA allows only children from contiguous countries (Canada and Mexico) to be returned while every other unaccompanied minor must be placed into a lengthy process that usually results in the minor’s landing in the custody of an illegal alien family member. 3. Congress must end the Flores Settlement Agreement by explicitly setting nationwide terms and standards for family and unaccompanied detention and housing. Such standards should focus on meeting human needs and should allow for large-scale use of temporary facilities (for example, tents). 4. Congress should amend the Homeland Security Act and portions of the TVPRA to move detention of alien children expressly from the Department of Health and Human Services to DHS. l Asylum reform 1. The standard for a credible fear of persecution should be raised and aligned to the standard for asylum. It should also account specifically for credibility determinations that are a key element of the asylum claim. 2. Codify former asylum bars and third-country transit rules. 3. Congress should eliminate the particular social group protected ground as vague and overbroad or, in the alternative, provide a clear definition with parameters that at a minimum codify the holding in Matter of A-B- that gang violence and domestic violence are not grounds for asylum.10
— 147 — Department of Homeland Security Personnel USCIS should be classified as a national security–sensitive agency, and all of its employees should be classified as holding national security–sensitive posi- tions. Leaks must be investigated and punished as they would be in a national security agency, and the union should be decertified. Any employees who cannot accept that change and cannot conform their behavior to the standards required by such an agency should be separated. USCIS’s D.C. personnel presence should be skeletal, and agency employees with operational or security roles should be rotated out to offices throughout the United States. These USCIS employees should live and work in the communities that are most affected by their daily duties and decisions. NECESSARY BORDER AND IMMIGRATION STATUTORY, REGULATORY, AND ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES The current border security crisis was made possible by glaring loopholes in our immigration system. The result was a preventable and predictable his- toric increase in illegal and inadmissible encounters along our southern border. This pulled limited resources from the front lines of our nation’s borders and away from their national security mission, releasing a vast and complex set of threats into our country. To regain our sovereignty, integrity, and security, Congress must pass meaningful legislation to close the current loopholes and prevent future Administrations from exploiting them for political gain or per- sonal ideology. Legislative Proposals l Title 42 authority in Title 8. Create an authority akin to the Title 42 Public Health authority that has been used during the COVID-19 pandemic to expel illegal aliens across the border immediately when certain non- health conditions are met, such as loss of operational control of the border. l Mandatory appropriation for border wall system infrastructure. The monies appropriated would be used to fund the construction of additional border wall systems, technology, and personnel in strategic locations in accordance with the Border Security Improvement Plan (BSIP). l Appropriation for Port of Entry infrastructure. Border security is not addressed solely by systems in between the ports of entry. POEs require technology and physical upgrades as well as an influx of personnel to meet capacity demands and act as the literal gatekeepers for the country. This is the first line of defense against drug and human smuggling operations.
Policy matches are calculated using semantic similarity between bill summaries and Project 2025 policy text. A score of 60% or higher indicates meaningful thematic overlap. This does not imply direct causation or intent, but highlights areas where legislation aligns with Project 2025 policy objectives.