[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1452 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1452

  To provide for electronic access by the Department of State and the 
 Immigration and Naturalization Service to certain information in the 
  criminal history records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to 
 determine whether or not a visa applicant or applicant for admission 
                     has a criminal history record.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 21, 2001

 Mr. Kennedy (for himself, Mr. Brownback, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Leahy, and 
 Ms. Cantwell) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide for electronic access by the Department of State and the 
 Immigration and Naturalization Service to certain information in the 
  criminal history records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to 
 determine whether or not a visa applicant or applicant for admission 
                     has a criminal history record.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. ACCESS BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE AND THE INS TO CERTAIN 
              IDENTIFYING INFORMATION IN THE CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORDS 
              OF VISA APPLICANTS AND APPLICANTS FOR ADMISSION TO THE 
              UNITED STATES.

    (a) Amendment of the Immigration and Nationality Act.--Section 105 
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1105) is amended--
            (1) in the section heading, by inserting ``; data 
        exchange'' after ``security officers'';
            (2) by inserting ``(a)'' after ``Sec. 105.'';
            (3) in subsection (a), by inserting ``and border'' after 
        ``internal'' the second place it appears; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b)(1) Upon the promulgation of final regulations under 
subsection (d), the Attorney General and the Director of the Federal 
Bureau of Investigation shall provide the Department of State and the 
Service access to the criminal history record information contained in 
the National Crime Information Center's Interstate Identification Index 
(NCIC-III), Wanted Persons File, and to any other files maintained by 
the National Crime Information Center that may be mutually agreed upon 
by the Attorney General and the agency receiving the access, for the 
purpose of determining whether or not a visa applicant or applicant for 
admission has a criminal history record indexed in any such file.
    ``(2) Such access shall be provided by means of extracts of the 
records for placement in the automated visa lookout or other 
appropriate database, and shall be provided without any fee or charge.
    ``(3) Whoever knowingly uses any information obtained pursuant to 
this subsection for a purpose other than as authorized under this 
section shall be fined in accordance with title 18, United States Code, 
imprisoned for not more than two years, or both.
    ``(4) The Federal Bureau of Investigation shall provide periodic 
updates of the extracts at intervals mutually agreed upon with the 
agency receiving the access. Upon receipt of such updated extracts, the 
receiving agency shall make corresponding updates to its database and 
destroy previously provided extracts.
    ``(5) Access to an extract does not entitle the Department of State 
to obtain the full content of the corresponding automated criminal 
history record. To obtain the full content of a criminal history 
record, the Department of State shall submit the applicant's 
fingerprints and any appropriate fingerprint processing fee authorized 
by law to the Criminal Justice Information Services Division of the 
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
    ``(c) Upon the development and deployment of a more cost-effective 
and efficient means of providing the same information as is provided 
under subsection (b), the Attorney General and the receiving agency may 
suspend the arrangement for providing the access described in this 
section and substitute the newer means.
    ``(d) For purposes of administering this section, the Department of 
State shall, prior to receiving access to NCIC data but not later than 
4 months after the date of enactment of this subsection, promulgate 
final regulations--
            ``(1) to implement procedures for the taking of 
        fingerprints; and
            ``(2) to establish the conditions for the use of the 
        information received from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 
        in order--
                    ``(A) to limit the redissemination of such 
                information;
                    ``(B) to ensure that such information is used 
                solely to determine whether or not to issue a visa to 
                an alien or to admit an alien to the United States;
                    ``(C) to ensure the security, confidentiality, and 
                destruction of such information; and
                    ``(D) to protect any privacy rights of individuals 
                who are subjects of such information.''.
    (b) Reporting Requirement.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Attorney General and the Secretary of State 
jointly shall report to Congress on the implementation of the 
amendments made by this section.
    (c) Statutory Construction.--Nothing in this section, or in any 
other law, shall be construed to limit the authority of the Attorney 
General or the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to 
provide access to the criminal history record information contained in 
the National Crime Information Center's (NCIC) Interstate 
Identification Index (NCIC-III), or to any other information maintained 
by the NCIC, to any Federal agency or officer authorized to enforce or 
administer the immigration laws of the United States, for the purpose 
of such enforcement or administration, upon terms that are consistent 
with the National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact Act of 1998 
(subtitle A of title II of Public Law 105-251; 42 U.S.C. 14611-16) and 
section 552a of title 5, United States Code.
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