The EXIT Act of 2023 gives the Department of Homeland Security special powers to find and destroy tunnels that people use to illegally cross the U.S. border on private land. Normally, any construction or environmental work requires permits and environmental reviews from federal, state, or local governments—but this bill lets DHS skip those requirements when searching for or fixing these tunnels. The bill also allows U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to sign long-term contracts with multiple companies to help with tunnel-related work, rather than having to go through the usual competitive bidding process each time. Essentially, this streamlines the government's ability to respond quickly to illegal border tunnels by removing bureaucratic delays, though it does bypass environmental protections that would normally apply to construction and remediation work on private property.

EXIT Act of 2023

Lesko, Debbie

Eradicate Crossing of Illegal Tunnels Act of 2023 or the EXIT Act of 2023 This bill authorizes the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to take various actions to facilitate the search for and remediation of unlawful border crossing tunnels on private land. Specifically, DHS may waive federal, state, or local environmental permits and reviews as necessary to search for or remediate such tunnels. U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement may enter into indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts with two or more sources to facilitate such border tunnel activities. (Indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts provide for an indefinite quantity of services for a fixed time.)