Match Ready: Oversight of the Federal Government's Border Management and Personnel Readiness Efforts for the Decade of Sports

6/10/2025

SUBCOMMITTEE ON BORDER MANAGEMENT, FEDERAL WORKFORCE, AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS SENATE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

Chairman Lankford, Ranking Member Fetterman, and distinguished members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to provide this statement for the record. As President of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), I have the honor of leading a union that represents over 29,000 Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Field Operations (OFO) CBP Officers, Agriculture Specialists and trade enforcement specialists stationed at 328 air, sea, and land ports of entry across the United States (U.S.) and 16 Preclearance stations throughout the world.

The question before the Subcommittee is are current levels of CBP staffing at the ports of entry adequate to support major international sporting events including the 2026 FIFA World Cup, 2028 Summer Olympics, and 2034 Winter Olympics, hosted by the U.S. over the next decade? The answer is an emphatic no.

For years, NTEU has worked to fund and hire thousands of needed CBP Officers at the ports of entry. Last year, CBP reported that the most recent CBP Officer Workload Staffing Model shows an immediate need to fund and hire at least 5,850 new CBP Officers. CBP officials have also stated that due to the expiration of 20-year Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) retirement coverage for CBP Officers hired prior to July 6, 2008, they expect CBP Officer retirements will increase by 400 percent in 2028.

Over the next decade, the U.S. will host several major international sporting events that will demand elevated levels of logistical and security coordination among event organizers, state and local government, and the federal government. These events have the potential to generate billions of dollars in revenue and create jobs across the country. For example, FIFA estimates that the 2026 World Cup will generate $17.2 billion in GDP growth and create 185,000 jobs.

Approximately 26,000 frontline and supervisory CBP OFO Officers are stationed at ports of entry, including international land and sea borders and airports. They are responsible for screening people and products entering into the U.S. In addition, during border crossing surges or special events, CBP will deploy to other areas of the country or to events nearby to provide security assistance. Processing higher levels of foreign visitors taking part in these international sporting events will further strain the workforce given the volume of visitors expected and CBP’s inability to meet its staffing targets due to lack of funding to hire additional officers. The Decade of Sports will not only strain CBP’s everyday work at the ports of entry, but also its ability to provide security assistance to the events themselves.

This issue will be exacerbated just as the 2028 LA Olympics kick off, because an estimated 2,000 to 4,000 CBP OFO Officers are expected to retire in July 2028. The majority of those expected to retire were hired prior to a 2008 change in policy that made CBP Officers eligible for expanded retirement benefits as federal law enforcement.

Federal law enforcement personnel will play a key role in the success of these international sporting events as they help coordinate security for the events, as well as maintain their normal travel facilitation and security operations. In particular, CBP OFO will be on the frontlines processing international travelers and will deploy officers to events to provide additional security. According to the U.S. Travel Association, during the World Cup, travel levels into and within the U.S. will look like the day before Thanksgiving for three months straight – roughly 3,000,000 travelers processed daily.

While CBP Officers were not offered early retirement packages, have not been targeted for reductions in force, and are not subject to the Administration's hiring freeze, CBP OFO is critically understaffed and faces existing morale, recruitment, and retention issues. These issues combined with concerns about the capacity of CBP OFO to handle higher volumes of travelers may negatively impact its ability to prepare and meet its existing and growing trade and travel security and facilitation mission effectively over the next decade.

To prepare for these events, states and host cities have requested federal assistance to shore up their security at these events. However, security for these major sporting events is not specifically funded by the government and must compete for funding out of limited, congressionally appropriated funds.

The recently released FY 2026 Administration budget request includes $122.9 million for 450 new CBP Officers in FY 2026 – far short of the over 5,850 CBP Officer new hires needed per CBP’s own CBP Officer workload staffing model. And, last month the House approved a budget reconciliation proposal that includes $5 billion for the hiring of 5,000 new CBP Officers, among other CBP border security personnel, however, there is no guarantee that Congress will approve this level of funding in reconciliation.

Therefore, NTEU is asking the authorizers to ask appropriations to fund the hiring of 1,000 new CBP Officers in FY 2026. In order to address the flood of July 2028 CBP Officer retirements due to the expiration of 20-year LEO retirement coverage, we ask the Committee to support funding for annual retention and signing bonuses to retain retirement eligible CBP Officers and attract needed CBP Officers new hires.

NTEU appreciates Congress providing funding for 250 CBP Officer new hires for FY 2024 in the final budget deal, and 450 CBP Officer new hires in FY 2026. However, based on CBP’s most recent workload staffing models, CBP needs to hire at least 5,850 CBP Officers, 250 Agriculture Specialists and 100 non-uniformed Trade Specialists to address current staffing needs at the ports of entry.

Acknowledging the economic impact of the ongoing CBP Officer staffing shortage at the ports, NTEU works with a coalition of 50 port stakeholders, including Airports Council International-North America, American Association of Port Authorities, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the U.S. Travel Association in support on increased funding for CBP OFO new hires to address increases in trade and travel volume at the ports-of-entry. In a letter in support of this effort last year, the coalition wrote that “[w]hile the volume of commerce crossing our borders has more than tripled in the past 25 years, CBP staffing has not kept pace with demand. Long wait times at our ports of entry lead to travel delays and uncertainty, which can increase supply-chain costs and cause passengers to miss their connections. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, border delays result in losses to output, wages, jobs, and tax revenue due to decreases in spending by companies, suppliers, and consumers.”

As important as CBP OFO’s role as an economic driver is, CBP OFO personnel are also on the frontline of illegal narcotics interdiction with over 90 percent of illicit drugs seized, including fentanyl, enter through the ports of entry. The drugs are concealed in privately owned vehicles, commercial vehicles, and even pedestrians. CBP’s fentanyl seizures have increased more than 400 percent since fiscal year 2019. During FY 2023, CBP seized 27,023 pounds of fentanyl, an 84 percent increase from FY 2022. CBP seized 26,718 pounds of fentanyl on the SWB in FY 2023. In 2024, CBP seized nearly 22,000 pounds of fentanyl and is on track to seize as much, if not more, this year. To date, in 2025 CBP seized more than 7,000 pounds of fentanyl. These seizures permanently removed these drugs from the illicit supply chain, kept them out of our communities, and denied drug trafficking organizations profits and critical operating capital.

Due to the ongoing CBP Officer staffing shortage at the ports, CBP has again found it necessary to solicit CBP Officers for temporary duty assignment (TDY) to Southwest Border (SWB) land ports of entry beginning in April 2022—over three years now. This TDY has been renewed every 60 days and now has been going on for one year. Wave 19 began on May 5, 2025, with 118 CBP Officers to be deployed to ports of entry at San Ysidro, Otay Mesa, Calexico, and Nogales.

In addition to the ongoing SWB TDY, CBP has been asked to provide several hundred CBP Officers to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations beginning on June 9, 2025. These two TDYs are being filled by CBP Officers currently assigned to other air, sea, and land port locations, exacerbating staffing shortages at those ports.

To help achieve funding to support CBP OFO’s dynamic economic expansion and drug interdiction missions, NTEU strongly supports S.1678, the Securing America’s Ports of Entry Act, a bipartisan authorization bill that would increase the authorized number of CBP law enforcement officers by 1,000 annually to help the agency meet its current and future staffing needs as documented by CBP’s CBP Officer workload staffing model. NTEU asks that Committee members cosponsor and vote for enactment of this legislation.

One of the main drivers of the special events security costs is the need for law enforcement overtime pay and CBP staffing shortages result in excessive overtime requirements and an increasing need for TDYs are additional stressors in the workplace that are impacting the mental health of CBP law enforcement officers. NTEU greatly appreciates Congress’ continued funding for CBP onsite mental health clinicians, employee resiliency and suicide prevention programs and strongly supports keeping this level of funding in FY 2026. According to the agency, 156 CBP employees died by suicide between 2007 and 2022. In 2022, CBP saw the highest number of suicides at 15. In 2023, 7 CBP employees were lost to suicide, 9 in 2024, and to date 2 CBP Officers were lost to suicide in 2025.

NTEU seeks the Committee’s support for the union to work collaboratively with CBP in effectively utilizing the designated appropriations to address the unique and prevalent behavioral health challenges within the Agency with a goal toward helping, and retaining employees with behavioral health challenges, that removes obstacles that prevent employees from seeking treatment; and provides meaningful support to employees struggling with suicidal thoughts, anxiety, depression, family/marriage relationship problems, PTSD, substance abuse and sleep deprivation. To that end, NTEU strongly supports and asks that Committee members seek the reintroduction of the bipartisan DHS Suicide Prevention and Resiliency for Law Enforcement Act to establish a Law Enforcement Mental Health and Resiliency Program within DHS to provide oversight, guidance, and resources to DHS components that conduct law enforcement missions.

Therefore, in addition to supporting the above-mentioned authorization bills, NTEU is asking the Committee to seek $239 million in direct appropriated funding for CBP “Operations and Support” in FY 2026 including funding the hiring of at least 1,000 CBP Officers and funding for CBP Officer annual retention and hiring bonuses. And to address additional trade and travel enforcement staffing shortages at the ports of entry, we ask that you seek funding to hire 240 additional CBP Agriculture Specialists, 200 CBP Agriculture Technicians, 20 Agriculture Canine Teams as authorized by P.L. 116-122, 100 non-uniformed trade enforcement specialists and associated operational support personnel and funding to continue implementing CBP onsite mental health clinicians, employee resiliency and suicide prevention programs.

Thank you for the opportunity to submit this statement for the record to address CBP staffing shortages affecting the security operations for the “Decade of Sports.”