Fronteras

Congresswoman Martha McSally and Texas congressman Will Hurd sent a letter asking DHS to give a breakdown into how the completed border wall will look. Among their questions: will DHS consider natural barriers to go along with manmade ones?  

McSally chairs the Committee on Homeland Security's Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee and Hurd is it's vice-chair.

"We’re glad they’re focusing on it," McSally said. "Let’s be clear about that. We’ve had transnational trafficking groups trafficking in our communities and they’re beating us because our strategies not been effective."

The letter also asked DHS to explain how Customs and Border protection will address the high rate of polygraph exam failures by applicants.

Applicants have accused polygraph examiners of aggressive and intimidating behavior, such as questioning sessions that went on for hours and unfounded accusations of their involvement in criminal activity.

The agency is under pressure to hire 5,000 new agents and is currently reviewing whether it should ease those lie detector tests for some applicants, such those who've already worked in law enforcement.