The Security First Act strengthens border security by increasing funding for state and local law enforcement, mandating a review of foreign terrorist organization designations for major cartels, and requiring comprehensive technology and workforce assessments.
Ernest "Tony" Gonzales
Representative
TX-23
The Security First Act aims to strengthen U.S. border security by increasing funding for state and local law enforcement through the Operation Stonegarden grant program and a new dedicated trust fund. The bill also mandates a formal review to determine if major Mexican drug cartels and criminal gangs should be designated as foreign terrorist organizations. Additionally, it requires the Department of Homeland Security to conduct comprehensive technology needs assessments and report on its recent hiring practices to improve operational capacity.
Security First Act Authorizes $110 Million for Border Tech and Targets Cartels with Terrorist Designations
The Security First Act is a massive push to modernize the U.S.-Mexico border by funneling millions into high-tech surveillance and local law enforcement. Starting in fiscal year 2025, the bill authorizes $110 million annually through 2028 for the Operation Stonegarden grant program. A key requirement of this spending is that at least $36.6 million must be spent each year specifically on hardware like drones, sensors, and advanced communication gear. This isn't just about more boots on the ground; it’s about filling the sky with tech to track movement in real-time. For a local sheriff in a border county, this could mean finally getting the budget for high-end thermal drones to monitor remote ranch lands where cell service is non-existent.
Funding from the Seizure Pile
One of the most interesting parts of this bill is how it plans to pay for these upgrades. It creates the Operation Stonegarden Trust Fund, which acts like a dedicated savings account for border security. Instead of just relying on standard tax dollars, the fund will be filled with money and "monetary instruments"—think cash, traveler's checks, and bearer bonds—seized by Customs and Border Protection from people crossing the border who fail to report them. While this sounds like a clever way to make the system pay for itself, the bill’s broad definition of monetary instruments could get complicated. If you’re a legitimate traveler who forgets to declare a specific type of negotiable check, your funds could end up directly financing a new surveillance tower under Section 3.
The Cartel Crackdown
Beyond the hardware, the bill takes a hard swing at the organizations running the show across the border. Within 60 days, the Secretary of State must report to Congress on whether major players like the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels, along with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, meet the legal criteria to be labeled Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). This isn't just a name change; an FTO designation triggers intense federal powers, including freezing bank accounts and making it a crime to provide any "material support" to these groups. For a small business owner in a border town, this could mean much tighter scrutiny on cross-border financial transactions to ensure no money is inadvertently touching a blacklisted group.
The Eye in the Sky
Section 5 of the bill mandates a deep-dive "technology needs analysis" to be updated every two years. The government will be looking at everything from muon tomography (high-tech x-rays) to miniature satellites and tunnel detection tech. While the bill mentions the need to mitigate privacy risks, it grants the Secretary of Homeland Security broad discretion to decide what technology is "critical." For the average person living or working near the border, this means a significant increase in surveillance—cameras, radar, and drones—becoming a permanent part of the landscape. The bill also calls for a look back at DHS hiring practices from 2018 to 2024, aiming to figure out how to better recruit and retain the people needed to run all this new equipment.