Border Patrol Recruitment Enhancement Act

The Border Patrol Recruitment Enhancement Act would temporarily expand U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s ability to hire individuals who did not complete the standard polygraph examination. Specifically, the bill allows the CBP Commissioner to waive the polygraph requirement for three groups: (1) state or local law enforcement officers with a 3-year service record and clean disciplinary history who have passed a polygraph within the last 10 years; (2) current federal law enforcement officers with similar qualifications, including possession of a current background investigation for access to Top Secret or Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information; and (3) current Armed Forces members or veterans with 3 years of service, a current or recent TS/SCI-appropriate background check, honorable discharge, and clean disciplinary and criminal records. The waiver authority would expire five years after enactment. The bill also directs enhanced review and reporting, including that waiver recipients remain subject to other hiring and suitability standards, and could be subject to polygraph testing if new information arises during the process of finalizing their employment. In addition to creating the waiver pathway, the bill adds reporting and oversight requirements (annual CBP reports for five years and periodic GAO reviews every five years for ten years) to track how waivers are used, their impact on filling positions, and any disciplinary actions, with attention to whether other deception-detection tools should be used. It also formalizes continued background investigations for waiver recipients and preserves the CBP Commissioner’s authority to administer a polygraph if necessary during the final suitability determination.