Criminal Justice

The Secure America Act appropriates billions of dollars to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement for fiscal year 2026 to expand staffing and operations. These funds are specifically designated for hiring agents to conduct functions other than immigration enforcement and customs duties, as well as for purchasing new technology to combat drug trafficking and improve border surveillance. The legislation includes restrictions that prohibit using the money to recruit processing coordinators after October 2028 and bans the deployment of untested autonomous surveillance towers. A portion of the funding is also set aside to hire investigators and analysts dedicated to identifying and rescuing victims of child sexual exploitation.

Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act or the HALT Fentanyl Act This act permanently places fentanyl-related substances as a class into schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. A schedule I controlled substance is a drug, substance, or chemical that has a high potential for abuse; has no currently accepted medical value; and is subject to regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal penalties under the Controlled Substances Act. Under the act, offenses involving fentanyl-related substances are triggered by the same quantity thresholds and subject to the same penalties as offenses involving fentanyl analogues (e.g., offenses involving 100 grams or more trigger a 10-year mandatory minimum prison term). Additionally, the act establishes a new, alternative registration process for certain schedule I research. The act also makes several other changes to registration requirements for conducting research with controlled substances, including permitting a single registration for related research sites in certain circumstances, waiving the requirement for a new inspection in certain situations, and allowing a registered researcher to perform certain manufacturing activities with small quantities of a substance without obtaining a manufacturing registration. Finally, the act expresses the sense that Congress agrees with the interpretation of the Controlled Substances Act in United States v. McCray , a 2018 case decided by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. In that case, the court held that butyryl fentanyl, a controlled substance, can be considered an analogue of fentanyl even though, under the Controlled Substances Act, the term controlled substance analogue specifically excludes a controlled substance.