[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 799 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

  1st Session
                                 S. 799

  To prohibit the use of racial and other discriminatory profiling in 
 connection with searches and detentions of individuals by the United 
       States Customs Service personnel, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 30, 2001

  Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Voinovich, Mr. Cleland, Mr. Kerry, Mr. 
 Reid, Mr. Feingold, and Ms. Mikulski) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To prohibit the use of racial and other discriminatory profiling in 
 connection with searches and detentions of individuals by the United 
       States Customs Service personnel, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Reasonable Search Standards Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) During fiscal years 1997 and 1998 approximately 
        140,000,000 people entered the United States on international 
        flights.
            (2) Customs Service personnel selected about 102,000 
        passengers for further inspection.
            (3) Of the 102,000 passengers, 95 percent were searched by 
        Customs Service personnel for contraband or hidden weapons by 
        patting the passenger's clothed body, 4 percent were strip 
        searched, and 1 percent were subjected to an x-ray examination.
            (4) Generally, passengers of particular races and gender 
        were more likely than other passengers to be subjected to more 
        intrusive types of personal searches.
            (5) However, in some cases the types of passengers who were 
        more likely to be subjected to more intrusive personal searches 
        were not as likely to be found carrying contraband.
            (6) African-American women were nearly 3 times as likely as 
        African-American men to be strip-searched, even though they 
        were only half as likely to be found carrying contraband.
            (7) African-American men and women were nearly 9 times as 
        likely, and Hispanic men and women were nearly 4 times as 
        likely, as white American men and women to be x-rayed, even 
        though they were no more likely to be found carrying 
        contraband.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Customs service personnel.--The term ``Customs Service 
        personnel'' means employees of the United States Customs 
        Service who are responsible for inspecting, searching, 
        interviewing, or examining people entering the United States.
            (2) Intrusive nonroutine search.--The term ``intrusive 
        nonroutine search'' means any of the following actions taken to 
        detect or remove contraband from a person:
                    (A) A search involving the removal of some of a 
                person's clothing to search for merchandise hidden on a 
                person's body, but not including removal of a person's 
                coat, shoes, belt, or pocket contents (commonly 
                referred to as a ``strip search'').
                    (B) A search involving use of a medical x-ray to 
                determine the presence of merchandise within the body, 
                or of other x-ray technology to determine the presence 
                of merchandise on the body, including a body scan 
                search (commonly referred to as an ``x-ray search'' or 
                a ``body scan search'').
                    (C) Any visual or physical intrusion into the 
                rectal or vaginal cavity (commonly referred to as a 
                ``body cavity search'').
                    (D) Any action to require the individual to take a 
                laxative or other similar drug.
                    (E) A monitored bowel movement.
                    (F) A surgical procedure.
                    (G) Any action similar or related to an action 
                described in any of subparagraphs (A) through (F).
            (3) Pat down search.--The term ``pat down search'' means a 
        search that involves physical contact with a person's body or 
        clothing to detect or remove contraband from the individual, 
        but does not include any of the actions described in 
        subparagraphs (A) through (F) of paragraph (1).
            (4) Profiling.--The term ``profiling'' means identifying 
        persons entering the United States for inspection, search 
        (including intrusive nonroutine searches and pat down 
        searches), interview, or examination in whole or in part on the 
        basis of actual or perceived race, religion, gender, national 
        origin, or sexual orientation.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON RACIAL OR OTHER DISCRIMINATORY PROFILING BY 
              CUSTOMS SERVICE PERSONNEL.

    Customs Service personnel shall not subject travelers to detention, 
pat down searches, intrusive nonroutine searches, or similar 
investigative actions, based in whole or in part on the actual or 
perceived race, religion, gender, national origin, or sexual 
orientation, except when Customs Service personnel are acting upon 
specific information that a particular traveler suspected of engaging 
in specific illegal activity is described by 1 or more of such 
characteristics.

SEC. 5. OTHER REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO SEARCHES.

    Before subjecting an individual to a pat down search or an 
intrusive nonroutine search, Customs Service personnel shall document 
reasons to support the belief that the individual may be carrying 
contraband in violation of Federal law. The preceding requirement shall 
not apply to a situation in which Customs Service personnel suspect the 
individual is carrying a weapon.

SEC. 6. PERIODIC TRAINING OF CUSTOMS SERVICE PERSONNEL.

    The Commissioner of Customs shall require all Customs Service 
personnel to undergo, on a periodic basis, training on the procedures 
for identifying, detaining, and searching passengers, with particular 
emphasis on the prohibition on profiling. The training shall include a 
review of the reasons identified by Customs Service personnel for 
certain searches under section 5, the results of the searches 
conducted, and the effectiveness of the criteria used by Customs 
Service personnel.

SEC. 7. ANNUAL STUDY AND REPORT ON DETENTIONS AND SEARCHES OF 
              INDIVIDUALS BY CUSTOMS SERVICE PERSONNEL.

    (a) Study.--The Commissioner of Customs shall conduct a study on 
detentions and searches of persons by Customs Service personnel during 
the preceding calendar year. The study shall include the number of 
searches conducted by Customs Service personnel, the race, gender, and 
citizenship of the travelers subject to the searches, the type of 
searches conducted (including pat down searches and intrusive 
nonroutine searches) and the results of the searches.
    (b) Report.--Not later than March 31 of each year, the Commissioner 
of Customs shall submit to Congress an annual report containing the 
results of the study conducted under subsection (a) for the preceding 
calendar year.

SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated for fiscal 
year 2002 and each fiscal year thereafter such sums as may be necessary 
to carry out this Act.
    (b) Availability.--Amounts appropriated pursuant to subsection (a) 
shall remain available until expended.
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