Sen. John Cornyn and Congressman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, have introduced a bill that would require the Department of Homeland Security to develop a national strategy plan to secure the border.
The Border Security Results Act of 2013 would require Homeland Security to develop and implement such a plan within 180 days of its passage and report periodically to congress.
McCaul cited points of entry near Tucson and San Diego as secure crossings, but said the entire border needs the same reinforcement.
"We need to look at this comprehensively with the entire border itself. A lot of it is not secure, a lot of it is wide is open and I think that’s why the situational awareness, the metrics, measuring performance to gauge success is so important to this," McCaul said.
The bill doesn't call for specific methods for securing the border, but does require a 90 percent Border Patrol apprehension rate for those crossing the border illegally.
The bill also seeks to cut the wait times for legal border crossings at ports of entry in half.
