H.R. 1820, the FLASH Act, is a border security and public lands bill that modifies federal protections to address unauthorized immigration and illegal drug cultivation. The legislation allows U.S. Customs and Border Protection to conduct security activities—including building roads, barriers, and surveillance systems—within federally protected wilderness areas that normally prohibit such development. The bill also establishes criminal penalties for undocumented immigrants who violate fire and sanitation rules on federal border lands, with maximum sentences and fines potentially doubling to one year imprisonment and $250,000, and requires the Trespass Cannabis Cultivation Site Response Initiative to clean up environmental contamination from illegal marijuana growing on public lands, with the Department of Interior receiving $16,037,000 annually from 2026-2032 for these cleanup efforts funded through appropriations and cost recovery. Additionally, the bill prohibits federal funding for housing undocumented immigrants on federal lands and requires annual reporting to Congress on how many undocumented immigrants have been housed on these lands and their countries of origin.
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