Congressional funding unavailable for installation of unused Fentanyl scanners

High-tech scanners costing millions of dollars to detect fentanyl at the U.S.-Mexico border are largely unused due to a lack of funding from Congress, acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Troy Miller revealed.

“We do have tested technology sitting in warehouses,” Miller told NBC News during a visit to a port of entry in Nogales, Arizona. “But we need approximately $300 million to actually implement the technology. It’s incredibly frustrating.”

The technology in question is called Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII), which allows Border Patrol to use X-rays on vehicles passing through scanners to detect fentanyl presence.

According to Miller, over 95% of fentanyl seized at the border is smuggled in personal vehicles.

Funding for the scanners was included in a Senate supplemental bill that is currently stalled in the House. The machines, costing tens of millions of dollars each, are stored in unknown locations.

While the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales has the new machines installed, officers at other border crossings rely on intuition. Miller added that utilizing artificial intelligence could improve fentanyl detection efficiency.

AI could alert officers to changes in vehicles, such as license plate swaps, weight alterations, or driver switches since their last Mexico visits.

“Most of the border-crossing trade is legal,” noted former acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan. “Only about 2% violates U.S. laws. AI could help identify abnormalities in vehicle scans.”

McAleenan, now heading Pangiam near Washington, D.C., secured $21.5 million from CBP to develop AI border technology.

Implementing AI could also boost vehicle search and scan rates. Miller aims to have 40% of personal vehicles and 70% of commercial vehicles scanned by 2025.

However, scanning 100% of vehicles would impede legitimate travel and trade, given over 1 million people daily crossing the southern border, Miller noted.