1.This Act may be cited as the
Jaime Zapata Border Enforcement
Security Task Force Act
.
2.Findings and
declaration of purposesCongress finds the following:
(1)The Department of
Homeland Security’s (DHS) overriding mission is to lead a unified national
effort to protect the United States. United States Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative agency within DHS and is charged
with enforcing a wide array of laws, including laws related to securing the
border and combating criminal smuggling.
(2)Mexico’s northern
border with the United States has experienced a dramatic surge in border crime
and violence in recent years due to intense competition between Mexican drug
cartels and criminal smuggling organizations that employ predatory tactics to
realize their profits.
(3)Law enforcement
agencies at the United States northern border face similar challenges from
transnational smuggling organizations.
(4)In response, DHS
has partnered with Federal, State, local, tribal, and foreign law enforcement
counterparts to create the Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST)
initiative as a comprehensive approach to addressing border security threats.
These multi-agency teams are designed to increase information-sharing and
collaboration among the participating law enforcement agencies.
(5)BEST teams
incorporate personnel from ICE, United States Customs and Border Protection
(CBP), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATFE), the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI), the United States Coast Guard (USCG), and the U.S. Attorney’s Office
(USAO), along with other key Federal, State and local law enforcement
agencies.
(6)Foreign law
enforcement agencies include Mexico’s Secretaria de Seguridad Publica (SSP),
the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP),
and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
3.Border
Enforcement Security Task Force
(a)There
is established in United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) a
program known as a Border Enforcement Security Task Force (referred to as
BEST
).
(b)The
purpose of the BEST program is to establish units to enhance border security by
addressing and reducing border security threats and violence by—
(1)facilitating
collaboration among Federal, State, local, tribal, and foreign law enforcement
agencies to execute coordinated activities in furtherance of border security,
and homeland security; and
(2)enhancing
information-sharing, including the dissemination of homeland security
information among such agencies.
(c)Composition and
designation
(1)BEST
units may be comprised of personnel from—
(A)United States
Immigration and Customs Enforcement;
(B)United States
Customs and Border Protection;
(C)the United States
Coast Guard;
(D)other Federal
agencies, as appropriate;
(E)appropriate State
law enforcement agencies;
(F)foreign law
enforcement agencies, as appropriate;
(G)local law
enforcement agencies from affected border cities and communities; and
(H)appropriate tribal
law enforcement agencies.
(2)The
Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through the Assistant Secretary for ICE,
is authorized to establish BEST units in jurisdictions where such units can
contribute to the BEST program’s missions, as appropriate. Prior to
establishing a BEST unit, the Assistant Secretary shall consider the following
factors:
(A)Whether the area
where the BEST unit would be established is significantly impacted by
cross-border threats.
(B)The availability
of Federal, State, local, tribal, and foreign law enforcement resources to
participate in the BEST unit.
(C)The extent to
which border security threats are having a significant harmful impact in the
jurisdiction in which the BEST unit is to be established, and other
jurisdictions of the country.
(D)Whether or not an Integrated Border
Enforcement Team already exists in the area where the BEST unit would be
established.
(d)After
making a designation under subsection (c)(2), and in order to provide Federal
assistance to the area so designated, the Secretary of Homeland Security
may—
(1)obligate such sums
as are appropriated for the BEST program;
(2)direct the
assignment of Federal personnel to the BEST program, subject to the approval of
the head of the department or agency that employs such personnel; and
(3)take other actions
to assist State, local, tribal, and foreign jurisdictions to participate in the
BEST program.
(e)Not
later than 180 days after the date of the establishment of the BEST program
under subsection (a) and annually thereafter, the Secretary of Homeland
Security shall submit to Congress a report on the effectiveness of the BEST
program in enhancing border security and reducing the drug trafficking, arms
smuggling, illegal alien trafficking and smuggling, violence, and kidnapping
along and across the international borders of the United States as measured by
crime statistics, including violent deaths, incidents of violence, and
drug-related arrests.
(f)Authorization of
appropriationsThere is authorized to be appropriated to the
Secretary of Homeland Security $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2012
through 2016 to—
(1)establish and
operate the BEST program, including to provide for operational, administrative,
and technological costs to Federal, State, local, tribal and foreign law
enforcement agencies participating in the BEST program; and
(2)investigate,
apprehend, and prosecute individuals engaged in drug trafficking, arms
smuggling, illegal alien trafficking and smuggling, violence, and kidnapping
along and across the international borders of the United States.
1.This Act may be cited as the
Jaime Zapata Border Enforcement
Security Task Force Act
.
2.Findings and declaration
of purposesCongress finds the
following:
(1)The Department of
Homeland Security’s (DHS) overriding mission is to lead a unified national
effort to protect the United States. United States Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative agency within DHS and is charged
with enforcing a wide array of laws, including laws related to securing the
border and combating criminal smuggling.
(2)Mexico’s northern border
with the United States has experienced a dramatic surge in border crime and
violence in recent years due to intense competition between Mexican drug
cartels and criminal smuggling organizations that employ predatory tactics to
realize their profits.
(3)Law enforcement agencies
at the United States northern border also face challenges from transnational
smuggling organizations.
(4)In response, DHS has
partnered with Federal, State, local, tribal, and foreign law enforcement
counterparts to create the Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST)
initiative as a comprehensive approach to addressing border security threats.
These multi-agency teams are designed to increase information-sharing and
collaboration among the participating law enforcement agencies.
(5)BEST teams incorporate
personnel from ICE, United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives (ATFE), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the United States
Coast Guard (USCG), and the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO), along with other key
Federal, State and local law enforcement agencies.
(6)Foreign law enforcement
agencies participating in BEST include Mexico’s Secretaria de Seguridad Publica
(SSP), the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Ontario Provincial Police
(OPP), and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
3.Border Enforcement
Security Task Force
(a)Subtitle C of title
IV of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 231 et seq.) is amended by
adding at the end the following:
432.Border Enforcement
Security Task Force
(a)There
is established within the Department a program to be known as the Border
Enforcement Security Task Force (referred to in this section as
BEST
).
(b)The
purpose of BEST is to establish units to enhance border security by addressing
and reducing border security threats and violence by—
(1)facilitating
collaboration among Federal, State, local, tribal, and foreign law enforcement
agencies to execute coordinated activities in furtherance of border security,
and homeland security; and
(2)enhancing
information-sharing, including the dissemination of homeland security
information among such agencies.
(c)Composition and
establishment of units
(1)BEST
units may be comprised of personnel from—
(A)U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement;
(B)U.S. Customs and Border
Protection;
(C)the United States Coast
Guard;
(D)other Department
personnel, as appropriate
(E)other Federal agencies,
as appropriate;
(F)appropriate State law
enforcement agencies;
(G)foreign law enforcement
agencies, as appropriate;
(H)local law enforcement
agencies from affected border cities and communities; and
(I)appropriate tribal law
enforcement agencies.
(2)The Secretary is authorized to establish BEST units in
jurisdictions in which such units can contribute to BEST missions, as
appropriate. Before establishing a BEST unit, the Secretary shall
consider—
(A)whether the area in which
the BEST unit would be established is significantly impacted by cross-border
threats;
(B)the availability of
Federal, State, local, tribal, and foreign law enforcement resources to
participate in the BEST unit;
(C)the extent to which
border security threats are having a significant harmful impact in the
jurisdiction in which the BEST unit is to be established, and other
jurisdictions in the country; and
(D)whether or not an Integrated Border
Enforcement Team already exists in the area in which the BEST unit would be
established.
(3)In determining whether to establish a new BEST unit or to
expand an existing BEST unit in a given jurisdiction, the Secretary shall
ensure that the BEST unit under consideration does not duplicate the efforts of
other existing interagency task forces or centers within that
jurisdiction.
(d)After
determining the jurisdictions in which to establish BEST units under subsection
(c)(2), and in order to provide Federal assistance to such jurisdictions, the
Secretary may—
(1)direct the assignment of
Federal personnel to BEST, subject to the approval of the head of the
department or agency that employs such personnel; and
(2)take other actions to
assist Federal, State, local, and tribal entities to participate in BEST,
including providing financial assistance, as appropriate, for operational,
administrative, and technological costs associated with the participation of
Federal, State, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies in BEST.
(e)Not
later than 180 days after the date on which BEST is established under this
section, and annually thereafter for the following 5 years, the Secretary shall
submit a report to Congress that describes the effectiveness of BEST in
enhancing border security and reducing the drug trafficking, arms smuggling,
illegal alien trafficking and smuggling, violence, and kidnapping along and
across the international borders of the United States, as measured by crime
statistics, including violent deaths, incidents of violence, and drug-related
arrests.
.
(b)The table of contents under section 1(b) of the
Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101(b)) is amended by inserting after
the item relating to section 431 the following:
Sec. 432. Border Enforcement Security Task
Force.
.
August 28, 2012
Reported with an amendment