As a previous chairman and ranking member, and now current member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, Senator Capito continues to play a direct role in providing our country with the resources it needs to stay safe and vigilant. The subcommittee funds the entire Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which has a training facility in Harpers Ferry, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as well as the U.S. Coast Guard, which has several facilities in the Eastern Panhandle.

Senator Capito has visited the southern border several times and believes a border wall system is crucially important, not only to deter and stop illegal immigration, but also to help keep deadly drugs out of our country and out of West Virginia. She has worked closely with the men and women on the ground to best fund their needs, including physical barriers, technology at ports of entry, and staffing. In March 2023, Senator Capito travelled to Mexico to visit intelligence, drug enforcement, and government officials, and met with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Through her leadership, Senator Capito has been able to fund the partnership between Marshall University and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the investigative arm of ICE, to combat the opioid crisis. She has also worked to establish a National Center of Excellence for Cybersecurity in Critical Infrastructure in West Virginia.

In a post 9/11 world, Senator Capito believes aggressors like Iran and Russia must be dealt with firmly, and we should staunchly support our strongest ally in the Middle East, Israel. She has visited the region several times, most recently Afghanistan where she learned more about our country’s critical missions to contain ISIS and support our allies. She also visited Germany and Poland in March 2022 to meet with U.S. military leaders, NGOs, and Ukrainian refugees.