[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4209 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4209

 To support remediation of illicit cross-border tunnels, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 28, 2021

Mr. Pfluger (for himself and Mrs. Lesko) introduced the following bill; 
        which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To support remediation of illicit cross-border tunnels, 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 ``DHS Illicit Cross-Border Tunnel 
Defense Act''.

SEC. 2. COUNTER ILLICIT CROSS-BORDER TUNNEL OPERATIONS.

    (a) Counter Illicit Cross-Border Tunnel Operations Strategic 
Plan.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and 
        Border Protection shall develop a strategic plan to address the 
        following:
                    (A) Risk-based criteria to be used to prioritize 
                the identification, breach, assessment, and remediation 
                of illicit cross-border tunnels.
                    (B) Promote the use of innovative technologies to 
                identify, breach, assess, and remediate illicit cross-
                border tunnels in a manner that, among other 
                considerations, reduces the impact of such activities 
                on surrounding communities.
                    (C) Processes to share relevant illicit cross-
                border tunnel location, operations, and technical 
                information.
                    (D) Indicators of specific types of illicit cross-
                border tunnels found in each U.S. Border Patrol sector 
                identified through operations to be periodically 
                disseminated to U.S. Border Patrol sector chiefs to 
                educate field personnel.
                    (E) A counter illicit cross-border tunnel 
                operations resource needs assessment that includes 
                consideration of the following:
                            (i) Technology needs.
                            (ii) Staffing needs, including the 
                        following:
                                    (I) A position description for 
                                counter illicit cross-border tunnel 
                                operations personnel.
                                    (II) Any specialized skills 
                                required of such personnel.
                                    (III) The number of such full time 
                                personnel, disaggregated by U.S. Border 
                                Patrol sector.
            (2) Report to congress on strategic plan.--Not later than 
        one year after the issuance of the strategic plan required 
        under paragraph (1), the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and 
        Border Protection shall submit to the Committee on Homeland 
        Security of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
        Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a 
        report on the implementation of paragraph (1).
    (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
$1,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 and 2023 to carry out 
remediation operations of illicit cross-border tunnels.
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