Millions of dollars have been spent on high-tech scanners to detect fentanyl coming across the U.S.-Mexico border, but many of the devices remain in warehouses and unused because Congress has not appropriated enough money to install them, according to acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Troy Miller.
"We do have technology that's in the warehouse that has been tested," Miller told NBC News during a tour of a port of entry in Nogales, Arizona, where about half of the fentanyl coming into the United States is seized, the network reported Tuesday. "But we need approximately $300 million [to] actually put the technology in the ground. It's extremely frustrating."
The technology is known as Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII). It allows the Border Patrol to X-ray vehicles passing through the large, U-shaped scanners to determine if there is fentanyl inside.
More than 95% of the fentanyl that is seized at the border is brought into the country in personal vehicles, according to Miller.
The money to install the screeners was included in the supplemental funding bill eventually passed in the Senate that remains on hold in the House. The machines, whose exact storage location is not known, cost tens of millions of dollars to buy.
The Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales has the new machines installed, but at other border crossings, officers must depend on their intuition, Miller said, adding the use of artificial intelligence would also make scanning for fentanyl more efficient.
He said AI would allow officers to be notified if there are changes in vehicles since their last traffic stops in Mexico, including the use of different license plates, weight changes, or changes in drivers.
"The vast majority of trade crossing the border is lawful," former acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, who served under former President Donald Trump, said. "Over 98% have no violations of any U.S. laws.
"So they're really looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. What AI can do is tell them if this image that the officer is about to review meets what's supposed to be in that container."
McAleenan is now in charge of Pangiam, a company based near Washington, D.C., that recently was awarded $21.5 million from CBP to build technology using AI at the border.
The use of AI could also increase how many vehicles are searched and scanned. At this point, just 20% of commercial vehicles and 5% of personal vehicles are scanned, but Miller said he wants CBP to be scanning 40% of personal vehicles and 70% of commercial vehicles by 2025.
Scanning 100% of the vehicles, meanwhile, "would shut down legitimate trade and travel," considering that more than 1 million people cross the southern border daily, Miller said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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