Us Congress 2023 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2794 Introduced / Bill

Filed 04/28/2023

                    I 
118THCONGRESS 
1
STSESSION H. R. 2794 
To secure the international borders of the United States, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL24, 2023 
Mr. G
REENof Tennessee (for himself, Mr. HIGGINSof Louisiana, Mr. 
M
CCAUL, Mr. GUEST, Mr. BISHOPof North Carolina, Mr. GIMENEZ, Mr. 
P
FLUGER, Mr. GARBARINO, Mr. LALOTA, Mr. EZELL, Mr. D’ESPOSITO, 
Mr. S
TRONG, Mr. BRECHEEN, Mr. CRANE, Ms. GREENEof Georgia, Mr. 
T
ONYGONZALESof Texas, Mr. LUTTRELL, and Ms. LEEof Florida) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Homeland Security, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and 
Means, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by 
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with-
in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To secure the international borders of the United States, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Border Reinforcement Act of 2023’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 
•HR 2794 IH
(b) TABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 1
this Act is as follows: 2
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Definitions. 
Sec. 3. Border wall construction. 
Sec. 4. Strengthening the requirements for barriers along the southern border. 
Sec. 5. Border and port security technology investment plan. 
Sec. 6. Border security technology program management. 
Sec. 7. U.S. Customs and Border Protection technology upgrades. 
Sec. 8. U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel. 
Sec. 9. Anti-Border Corruption Act reauthorization. 
Sec. 10. Establishment of workload staffing models for U.S. Border Patrol and 
Air and Marine Operations of CBP. 
Sec. 11. Operation Stonegarden. 
Sec. 12. Air and Marine Operations flight hours. 
Sec. 13. Eradication of carrizo cane and salt cedar. 
Sec. 14. Border patrol strategic plan. 
Sec. 15. U.S. Customs and Border Protection spiritual readiness. 
Sec. 16. Restrictions on funding. 
Sec. 17. Collection of DNA and biometric information at the border. 
Sec. 18. Eradication of narcotic drugs and formulating effective new tools to 
address yearly losses of life; ensuring timely updates to U.S. 
Customs and Border Protection field manuals. 
Sec. 19. Publication by U.S. Customs and Border Protection of operational sta-
tistics. 
Sec. 20. Alien criminal background checks. 
Sec. 21. Prohibited identification documents at airport security checkpoints; no-
tification to immigration agencies. 
Sec. 22. Prohibition against any COVID–19 vaccine mandate or adverse action 
against DHS employees. 
Sec. 23. CBP One app limitation. 
Sec. 24. Report on designation of Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organiza-
tions. 
Sec. 25. GAO study on costs incurred by States to secure the southwest border. 
Sec. 26. Report by Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security. 
Sec. 27. Offsetting authorizations of appropriations. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
3
In this Act: 4
(1) CBP.—The term ‘‘CBP’’ means U.S. Cus-5
toms and Border Protection. 6
(2) C
OMMISSIONER.—The term ‘‘Commis-7
sioner’’ means the Commissioner of U.S. Customs 8
and Border Protection. 9
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 
•HR 2794 IH
(3) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 1
means the Department of Homeland Security. 2
(4) O
PERATIONAL CONTROL .—The term ‘‘oper-3
ational control’’ has the meaning given such term in 4
section 2(b) of the Secure Fence Act of 2006 (Public 5
Law 109–367; 8 U.S.C. 1701 note). 6
(5) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 7
the Secretary of Homeland Security. 8
(6) S
ITUATIONAL AWARENESS .—The term ‘‘sit-9
uational awareness’’ has the meaning given such 10
term in section 1092(a)(7) of the National Defense 11
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 12
114–328; 6 U.S.C. 223(a)(7)). 13
(7) U
NMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEM .—The term 14
‘‘unmanned aircraft system’’ has the meaning given 15
such term in section 44801 of title 49, United 16
States Code. 17
SEC. 3. BORDER WALL CONSTRUCTION. 18
(a) I
NGENERAL.— 19
(1) I
MMEDIATE RESUMPTION OF BORDER WALL 20
CONSTRUCTION.—Not later than seven days after 21
the date of the enactment of this section, the Sec-22
retary shall resume all activities related to the con-23
struction of the border wall along the international 24
border between the United States and Mexico that 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 
•HR 2794 IH
were underway or being planned for prior to Janu-1
ary 20, 2021. 2
(2) U
SE OF FUNDS.—To carry out this section, 3
the Secretary shall expend all unexpired funds ap-4
propriated or explicitly obligated for the construction 5
of the border wall that were appropriated or obli-6
gated, as the case may be, for use beginning on Oc-7
tober 1, 2019. 8
(3) U
SE OF MATERIALS.—Any unused materials 9
purchased before the date of the enactment of this 10
section for construction of the border wall may be 11
used for activities related to the construction of the 12
border wall in accordance with paragraph (1). 13
(b) P
LANTOCOMPLETETACTICALINFRASTRUC-14
TURE ANDTECHNOLOGY.—Not later than 90 days after 15
the date of the enactment of this section and annually 16
thereafter until construction of the border wall has been 17
completed, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate 18
congressional committees an implementation plan, includ-19
ing annual benchmarks for the construction of 200 miles 20
of such wall and associated cost estimates for satisfying 21
all requirements of the construction of the border wall, 22
including installation and deployment of tactical infra-23
structure, technology, and other elements as identified by 24
the Department prior to January 20, 2021, through the 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 
•HR 2794 IH
expenditure of funds appropriated or explicitly obligated, 1
as the case may be, for use, as well as any future funds 2
appropriated or otherwise made available by Congress. 3
(c) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 4
(1) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -5
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-6
mittees’’ means the Committee on Homeland Secu-7
rity and the Committee on Appropriations of the 8
House of Representatives and the Committee on 9
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and 10
the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate. 11
(2) T
ACTICAL INFRASTRUCTURE .—The term 12
‘‘tactical infrastructure’’ includes boat ramps, access 13
gates, checkpoints, lighting, and roads associated 14
with a border wall. 15
(3) T
ECHNOLOGY.—The term ‘‘technology’’ in-16
cludes border surveillance and detection technology, 17
including linear ground detection systems, associated 18
with a border wall. 19
SEC. 4. STRENGTHENING THE REQUIREMENTS FOR BAR-20
RIERS ALONG THE SOUTHERN BORDER. 21
Section 102 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and 22
Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (Division C of Pub-23
lic Law 104–208; 8 U.S.C. 1103 note) is amended— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 
•HR 2794 IH
(1) by amending subsection (a) to read as fol-1
lows: 2
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland Se-3
curity shall take such actions as may be necessary (includ-4
ing the removal of obstacles to detection of illegal en-5
trants) to design, test, construct, install, deploy, integrate, 6
and operate physical barriers, tactical infrastructure, and 7
technology in the vicinity of the southwest border to 8
achieve situational awareness and operational control of 9
the southwest border and deter, impede, and detect unlaw-10
ful activity.’’; 11
(2) in subsection (b)— 12
(A) in the subsection heading, by striking 13
‘‘F
ENCING ANDROADIMPROVEMENTS’’ and in-14
serting ‘‘P
HYSICALBARRIERS’’; 15
(B) in paragraph (1)— 16
(i) in the heading, by striking ‘‘
FENC-17
ING’’ and inserting ‘‘BARRIERS’’; 18
(ii) by amending subparagraph (A) to 19
read as follows: 20
‘‘(A) R
EINFORCED BARRIERS.—In carrying 21
out this section, the Secretary of Homeland Se-22
curity shall construct a border wall, including 23
physical barriers, tactical infrastructure, and 24
technology, along not fewer than 900 miles of 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 
•HR 2794 IH
the southwest border until situational aware-1
ness and operational control of the southwest 2
border is achieved.’’; 3
(iii) by amending subparagraph (B) to 4
read as follows: 5
‘‘(B) P
HYSICAL BARRIERS AND TACTICAL 6
INFRASTRUCTURE.—In carrying out this sec-7
tion, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall 8
deploy along the southwest border the most 9
practical and effective physical barriers, tactical 10
infrastructure, and technology available for 11
achieving situational awareness and operational 12
control of the southwest border.’’; 13
(iv) in subparagraph (C)— 14
(I) by amending clause (i) to 15
read as follows: 16
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—In carrying out 17
this section, the Secretary of Homeland 18
Security shall consult with the Secretary of 19
the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, 20
appropriate representatives of State, Trib-21
al, and local governments, and appropriate 22
private property owners in the United 23
States to minimize the impact on natural 24
resources, commerce, and sites of historical 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 
•HR 2794 IH
or cultural significance for the commu-1
nities and residents located near the sites 2
at which physical barriers, tactical infra-3
structure, and technology are to be con-4
structed. Such consultation may not delay 5
such construction for longer than seven 6
days.’’; and 7
(II) in clause (ii)— 8
(aa) in subclause (I), by 9
striking ‘‘or’’ after the semicolon 10
at the end; 11
(bb) by amending subclause 12
(II) to read as follows: 13
‘‘(II) delay the transfer to the 14
United States of the possession of 15
property or affect the validity of any 16
property acquisition by the United 17
States by purchase or eminent do-18
main, or to otherwise affect the emi-19
nent domain laws of the United States 20
or of any State; or’’; and 21
(cc) by adding at the end 22
the following new subclause: 23
‘‘(III) create any right or liability 24
for any party.’’; and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 
•HR 2794 IH
(v) by striking subparagraph (D); 1
(C) in paragraph (2)— 2
(i) by striking ‘‘Attorney General’’ 3
and inserting ‘‘Secretary of Homeland Se-4
curity’’; 5
(ii) by striking ‘‘this subsection’’ and 6
inserting ‘‘this section’’; and 7
(iii) by striking ‘‘construction of 8
fences’’ and inserting ‘‘the construction of 9
physical barriers, tactical infrastructure, 10
and technology’’; 11
(D) by amending paragraph (3) to read as 12
follows: 13
‘‘(3) A
GENT SAFETY.—In carrying out this sec-14
tion, the Secretary of Homeland Security, when de-15
signing, testing, constructing, installing, deploying, 16
integrating, and operating physical barriers, tactical 17
infrastructure, or technology, shall incorporate such 18
safety features into such design, test, construction, 19
installation, deployment, integration, or operation of 20
such physical barriers, tactical infrastructure, or 21
technology, as the case may be, that the Secretary 22
determines are necessary to maximize the safety and 23
effectiveness of officers and agents of the Depart-24
ment of Homeland Security or of any other Federal 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 
•HR 2794 IH
agency deployed in the vicinity of such physical bar-1
riers, tactical infrastructure, or technology.’’; and 2
(E) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘this 3
subsection’’ and inserting ‘‘this section’’; 4
(3) in subsection (c)— 5
(A) by amending paragraph (1) to read as 6
follows: 7
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 8
provision of law, the Secretary of Homeland Security 9
shall waive all legal requirements necessary to en-10
sure the expeditious design, testing, construction, in-11
stallation, deployment, integration, operation, and 12
maintenance of the physical barriers, tactical infra-13
structure, and technology under this section. The 14
Secretary shall ensure the maintenance and effec-15
tiveness of such physical barriers, tactical infrastruc-16
ture, or technology. Any such action by the Sec-17
retary shall be effective upon publication in the Fed-18
eral Register.’’; 19
(B) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 20
paragraph (3); and 21
(C) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 22
following new paragraph: 23
‘‘(2) N
OTIFICATION.—Not later than seven 24
days after the date on which the Secretary of Home-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 
•HR 2794 IH
land Security exercises a waiver pursuant to para-1
graph (1), the Secretary shall notify the Committee 2
on Homeland Security of the House of Representa-3
tives and the Committee on Homeland Security and 4
Governmental Affairs of the Senate of such waiver.’’; 5
and 6
(4) by adding at the end the following new sub-7
sections: 8
‘‘(e) T
ECHNOLOGY.—In carrying out this section, the 9
Secretary of Homeland Security shall deploy along the 10
southwest border the most practical and effective tech-11
nology available for achieving situational awareness and 12
operational control. 13
‘‘(f) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 14
‘‘(1) A
DVANCED UNATTENDED SURVEILLANCE 15
SENSORS.—The term ‘advanced unattended surveil-16
lance sensors’ means sensors that utilize an onboard 17
computer to analyze detections in an effort to dis-18
cern between vehicles, humans, and animals, and ul-19
timately filter false positives prior to transmission. 20
‘‘(3) O
PERATIONAL CONTROL .—The term ‘oper-21
ational control’ has the meaning given such term in 22
section 2(b) of the Secure Fence Act of 2006 (Public 23
Law 109–367; 8 U.S.C. 1701 note). 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 
•HR 2794 IH
‘‘(4) PHYSICAL BARRIERS.—The term ‘physical 1
barriers’ includes reinforced fencing, the border wall, 2
and levee walls. 3
‘‘(5) S
ITUATIONAL AWARENESS .—The term ‘sit-4
uational awareness’ has the meaning given such 5
term in section 1092(a)(7) of the National Defense 6
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 7
114–328; 6 U.S.C. 223(a)(7)). 8
‘‘(6) T
ACTICAL INFRASTRUCTURE .—The term 9
‘tactical infrastructure’ includes boat ramps, access 10
gates, checkpoints, lighting, and roads. 11
‘‘(7) T
ECHNOLOGY.—The term ‘technology’ in-12
cludes border surveillance and detection technology, 13
including the following: 14
‘‘(A) Tower-based surveillance technology. 15
‘‘(B) Deployable, lighter-than-air ground 16
surveillance equipment. 17
‘‘(C) Vehicle and Dismount Exploitation 18
Radars (VADER). 19
‘‘(D) 3-dimensional, seismic acoustic detec-20
tion and ranging border tunneling detection 21
technology. 22
‘‘(E) Advanced unattended surveillance 23
sensors. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 
•HR 2794 IH
‘‘(F) Mobile vehicle-mounted and man- 1
portable surveillance capabilities. 2
‘‘(G) Unmanned aircraft systems. 3
‘‘(H) Tunnel detection systems and other 4
seismic technology. 5
‘‘(I) Fiber-optic cable. 6
‘‘(J) Other border detection, communica-7
tion, and surveillance technology. 8
‘‘(8) U
NMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEM .—The term 9
‘unmanned aircraft system’ has the meaning given 10
such term in section 44801 of title 49, United 11
States Code.’’. 12
SEC. 5. BORDER AND PORT SECURITY TECHNOLOGY IN-13
VESTMENT PLAN. 14
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 15
date of the enactment of this section, the Commissioner, 16
in consultation with covered officials and border and port 17
security technology stakeholders, shall submit to the ap-18
propriate congressional committees a strategic 5-year 19
technology investment plan (in this section referred to as 20
the ‘‘plan’’). The plan may include a classified annex, if 21
appropriate. 22
(b) C
ONTENTS OFPLAN.—The plan shall include the 23
following: 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 14 
•HR 2794 IH
(1) An analysis of security risks at and between 1
ports of entry along the northern and southern bor-2
ders of the United States. 3
(2) An identification of capability gaps with re-4
spect to security at and between such ports of entry 5
to be mitigated in order to— 6
(A) prevent terrorists and instruments of 7
terror from entering the United States; 8
(B) combat and reduce cross-border crimi-9
nal activity, including— 10
(i) the transport of illegal goods, such 11
as illicit drugs; and 12
(ii) human smuggling and human 13
trafficking; and 14
(C) facilitate the flow of legal trade across 15
the southwest border. 16
(3) An analysis of current and forecast trends 17
relating to the number of aliens who— 18
(A) unlawfully entered the United States 19
by crossing the northern or southern border of 20
the United States; or 21
(B) are unlawfully present in the United 22
States. 23
(4) A description of security-related technology 24
acquisitions, to be listed in order of priority, to ad-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 15 
•HR 2794 IH
dress the security risks and capability gaps analyzed 1
and identified pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2), 2
respectively. 3
(5) A description of each planned security-re-4
lated technology program, including objectives, goals, 5
and timelines for each such program. 6
(6) An identification of each deployed security- 7
related technology that is at or near the end of the 8
life cycle of such technology. 9
(7) A description of the test, evaluation, mod-10
eling, and simulation capabilities, including target 11
methodologies, rationales, and timelines, necessary 12
to support the acquisition of security-related tech-13
nologies pursuant to paragraph (4). 14
(8) An identification and assessment of ways to 15
increase opportunities for communication and col-16
laboration with the private sector, small and dis-17
advantaged businesses, intragovernment entities, 18
university centers of excellence, and Federal labora-19
tories to ensure CBP is able to engage with the mar-20
ket for security-related technologies that are avail-21
able to satisfy its mission needs before engaging in 22
an acquisition of a security-related technology. 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 16 
•HR 2794 IH
(9) An assessment of the management of 1
planned security-related technology programs by the 2
acquisition workforce of CBP. 3
(10) An identification of ways to leverage al-4
ready-existing acquisition expertise within the Fed-5
eral Government. 6
(11) A description of the security resources, in-7
cluding information security resources, required to 8
protect security-related technology from physical or 9
cyber theft, diversion, sabotage, or attack. 10
(12) A description of initiatives to— 11
(A) streamline the acquisition process of 12
CBP; and 13
(B) provide to the private sector greater 14
predictability and transparency with respect to 15
such process, including information relating to 16
the timeline for testing and evaluation of secu-17
rity-related technology. 18
(13) An assessment of the privacy and security 19
impact on border communities of security-related 20
technology. 21
(14) In the case of a new acquisition leading to 22
the removal of equipment from a port of entry along 23
the northern or southern border of the United 24
States, a strategy to consult with the private sector 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 17 
•HR 2794 IH
and community stakeholders affected by such re-1
moval. 2
(15) A strategy to consult with the private sec-3
tor and community stakeholders with respect to se-4
curity impacts at a port of entry described in para-5
graph (14). 6
(16) An identification of recent technological 7
advancements in the following: 8
(A) Manned aircraft sensor, communica-9
tion, and common operating picture technology. 10
(B) Unmanned aerial systems and related 11
technology, including counter-unmanned aerial 12
system technology. 13
(C) Surveillance technology, including the 14
following: 15
(i) Mobile surveillance vehicles. 16
(ii) Associated electronics, including 17
cameras, sensor technology, and radar. 18
(iii) Tower-based surveillance tech-19
nology. 20
(iv) Advanced unattended surveillance 21
sensors. 22
(v) Deployable, lighter-than-air, 23
ground surveillance equipment. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 18 
•HR 2794 IH
(D) Nonintrusive inspection technology, in-1
cluding non-X-ray devices utilizing muon to-2
mography and other advanced detection tech-3
nology. 4
(E) Tunnel detection technology. 5
(F) Communications equipment, including 6
the following: 7
(i) Radios. 8
(ii) Long-term evolution broadband. 9
(iii) Miniature satellites. 10
(c) L
EVERAGING THEPRIVATESECTOR.—To the ex-11
tent practicable, the plan shall— 12
(1) leverage emerging technological capabilities, 13
and research and development trends, within the 14
public and private sectors; 15
(2) incorporate input from the private sector, 16
including from border and port security stake-17
holders, through requests for information, industry 18
day events, and other innovative means consistent 19
with the Federal Acquisition Regulation; and 20
(3) identify security-related technologies that 21
are in development or deployed, with or without ad-22
aptation, that may satisfy the mission needs of CBP. 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 19 
•HR 2794 IH
(d) FORM.—To the extent practicable, the plan shall 1
be published in unclassified form on the website of the 2
Department. 3
(e) D
ISCLOSURE.—The plan shall include an identi-4
fication of individuals not employed by the Federal Gov-5
ernment, and their professional affiliations, who contrib-6
uted to the development of the plan. 7
(f) U
PDATE ANDREPORT.—Not later than the date 8
that is two years after the date on which the plan is sub-9
mitted to the appropriate congressional committees pursu-10
ant to subsection (a) and biennially thereafter for ten 11
years, the Commissioner shall submit to the appropriate 12
congressional committees— 13
(1) an update of the plan, if appropriate; and 14
(2) a report that includes— 15
(A) the extent to which each security-re-16
lated technology acquired by CBP since the ini-17
tial submission of the plan or most recent up-18
date of the plan, as the case may be, is con-19
sistent with the planned technology programs 20
and projects described pursuant to subsection 21
(b)(5); and 22
(B) the type of contract and the reason for 23
acquiring each such security-related technology. 24
(g) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 20 
•HR 2794 IH
(1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -1
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-2
mittees’’ means— 3
(A) the Committee on Homeland Security 4
and the Committee on Appropriations of the 5
House of Representatives; and 6
(B) the Committee on Homeland Security 7
and Governmental Affairs and the Committee 8
on Appropriations of the Senate. 9
(2) C
OVERED OFFICIALS.—The term ‘‘covered 10
officials’’ means— 11
(A) the Under Secretary for Management 12
of the Department; 13
(B) the Under Secretary for Science and 14
Technology of the Department; and 15
(C) the Chief Information Officer of the 16
Department. 17
(3) U
NLAWFULLY PRESENT .—The term ‘‘un-18
lawfully present’’ has the meaning provided such 19
term in section 212(a)(9)(B)(ii) of the Immigration 20
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(9)(B)(ii)). 21
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 21 
•HR 2794 IH
SEC. 6. BORDER SECURITY TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM MAN-1
AGEMENT. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subtitle C of title IV of the 3
Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 231 et seq.) 4
is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 5
‘‘SEC. 437. BORDER SECURITY TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM 6
MANAGEMENT. 7
‘‘(a) M
AJORACQUISITIONPROGRAMDEFINED.—In 8
this section, the term ‘major acquisition program’ means 9
an acquisition program of the Department that is esti-10
mated by the Secretary to require an eventual total ex-11
penditure of at least $100,000,000 (based on fiscal year 12
2023 constant dollars) over its life-cycle cost. 13
‘‘(b) P
LANNINGDOCUMENTATION.—For each border 14
security technology acquisition program of the Depart-15
ment that is determined to be a major acquisition pro-16
gram, the Secretary shall— 17
‘‘(1) ensure that each such program has a writ-18
ten acquisition program baseline approved by the 19
relevant acquisition decision authority; 20
‘‘(2) document that each such program is satis-21
fying cost, schedule, and performance thresholds as 22
specified in such baseline, in compliance with rel-23
evant departmental acquisition policies and the Fed-24
eral Acquisition Regulation; and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 22 
•HR 2794 IH
‘‘(3) have a plan for satisfying program imple-1
mentation objectives by managing contractor per-2
formance. 3
‘‘(c) A
DHERENCE TO STANDARDS.—The Secretary, 4
acting through the Under Secretary for Management and 5
the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 6
shall ensure border security technology acquisition pro-7
gram managers who are responsible for carrying out this 8
section adhere to relevant internal control standards iden-9
tified by the Comptroller General of the United States. 10
The Commissioner shall provide information, as needed, 11
to assist the Under Secretary in monitoring management 12
of border security technology acquisition programs under 13
this section. 14
‘‘(d) P
LAN.—The Secretary, acting through the 15
Under Secretary for Management, in coordination with 16
the Under Secretary for Science and Technology and the 17
Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 18
shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security of 19
the House of Representatives and the Committee on 20
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen-21
ate a plan for testing, evaluating, and using independent 22
verification and validation of resources relating to the pro-23
posed acquisition of border security technology. Under 24
such plan, the proposed acquisition of new border security 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 23 
•HR 2794 IH
technologies shall be evaluated through a series of assess-1
ments, processes, and audits to ensure— 2
‘‘(1) compliance with relevant departmental ac-3
quisition policies and the Federal Acquisition Regu-4
lation; and 5
‘‘(2) the effective use of taxpayer dollars.’’. 6
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of contents 7
in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is 8
amended by inserting after the item relating to section 9
436 the following new item: 10
‘‘Sec. 437. Border security technology program management.’’. 
(c) PROHIBITION ONADDITIONALAUTHORIZATION 11
OFAPPROPRIATIONS.—No additional funds are author-12
ized to be appropriated to carry out section 437 of the 13
Homeland Security Act of 2002, as added by subsection 14
(a). 15
SEC. 7. U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION TECH-16
NOLOGY UPGRADES. 17
(a) S
ECURECOMMUNICATIONS.—The Commissioner 18
shall ensure that each CBP officer or agent, as appro-19
priate, is equipped with a secure radio or other two-way 20
communication device that allows each such officer or 21
agent to communicate— 22
(1) between ports of entry and inspection sta-23
tions; and 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 24 
•HR 2794 IH
(2) with other Federal, State, Tribal, and local 1
law enforcement entities. 2
(b) B
ORDERSECURITYDEPLOYMENTPROGRAM.— 3
(1) E
XPANSION.—Not later than September 30, 4
2025, the Commissioner shall— 5
(A) fully implement the Border Security 6
Deployment Program of CBP; and 7
(B) expand the integrated surveillance and 8
intrusion detection system at land ports of 9
entry along the northern and southern borders 10
of the United States. 11
(2) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS .—In 12
addition to amounts otherwise authorized to be ap-13
propriated for such purpose, there is authorized to 14
be appropriated $33,000,000 for fiscal years 2024 15
and 2025 to carry out paragraph (1). 16
(c) U
PGRADE OF LICENSEPLATEREADERS AT 17
P
ORTS OFENTRY.— 18
(1) U
PGRADE.—Not later than two years after 19
the date of the enactment of this section, the Com-20
missioner shall upgrade all existing license plate 21
readers in need of upgrade, as determined by the 22
Commissioner, on the northern and southern borders 23
of the United States. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 25 
•HR 2794 IH
(2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS .—In 1
addition to amounts otherwise authorized to be ap-2
propriated for such purpose, there is authorized to 3
be appropriated $125,000,000 for fiscal years 2023 4
and 2024 to carry out paragraph (1). 5
SEC. 8. U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION PER-6
SONNEL. 7
(a) R
ETENTIONBONUS.—To carry out this section, 8
there is authorized to be appropriated up to $100,000,000 9
to the Commissioner to provide a retention bonus to any 10
front-line U.S. Border Patrol law enforcement agent— 11
(1) whose position is equal to or below level GS- 12
12 of the General Schedule; 13
(2) who has five years or more of service with 14
the U.S. Border Patrol; and 15
(3) who commits to two years of additional 16
service with the U.S. Border Patrol upon acceptance 17
of such bonus. 18
(b) B
ORDERPATROLAGENTS.—Not later than Sep-19
tember 30, 2025, the Commissioner shall hire, train, and 20
assign a sufficient number of Border Patrol agents to 21
maintain an active duty presence of not fewer than 22,000 22
full-time equivalent Border Patrol agents, who may not 23
perform the duties of processing coordinators. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 26 
•HR 2794 IH
(c) PROHIBITIONAGAINSTALIENTRAVEL.—No per-1
sonnel or equipment of Air and Marine Operations may 2
be used for the transportation of non-detained aliens, or 3
detained aliens expected to be administratively released 4
upon arrival, from the southwest border to destinations 5
within the United States. 6
(d) GAO R
EPORT.—If the staffing level required 7
under this section is not achieved by the date associated 8
with such level, the Comptroller General of the United 9
States shall— 10
(1) conduct a review of the reasons why such 11
level was not so achieved; and 12
(2) not later than September 30, 2027, publish 13
on a publicly available website of the Government 14
Accountability Office a report relating thereto. 15
SEC. 9. ANTI-BORDER CORRUPTION ACT REAUTHORIZA-16
TION. 17
(a) H
IRINGFLEXIBILITY.—Section 3 of the Anti- 18
Border Corruption Act of 2010 (6 U.S.C. 221; Public Law 19
111–376) is amended by striking subsection (b) and in-20
serting the following new subsections: 21
‘‘(b) W
AIVERREQUIREMENT.—Subject to subsection 22
(c), the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Pro-23
tection shall waive the application of subsection (a)(1)— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 27 
•HR 2794 IH
‘‘(1) to a current, full-time law enforcement of-1
ficer employed by a State or local law enforcement 2
agency who— 3
‘‘(A) has continuously served as a law en-4
forcement officer for not fewer than three 5
years; 6
‘‘(B) is authorized by law to engage in or 7
supervise the prevention, detection, investiga-8
tion, or prosecution of, or the incarceration of 9
any person for, any violation of law, and has 10
statutory powers for arrest or apprehension; 11
and 12
‘‘(C) is not currently under investigation, 13
has not been found to have engaged in criminal 14
activity or serious misconduct, has not resigned 15
from a law enforcement officer position under 16
investigation or in lieu of termination, and has 17
not been dismissed from a law enforcement offi-18
cer position; 19
‘‘(2) to a current, full-time Federal law enforce-20
ment officer who— 21
‘‘(A) has continuously served as a law en-22
forcement officer for not fewer than three 23
years; 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00027 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 28 
•HR 2794 IH
‘‘(B) is authorized to make arrests, con-1
duct investigations, conduct searches, make sei-2
zures, carry firearms, and serve orders, war-3
rants, and other processes; 4
‘‘(C) is not currently under investigation, 5
has not been found to have engaged in criminal 6
activity or serious misconduct, has not resigned 7
from a law enforcement officer position under 8
investigation or in lieu of termination, and has 9
not been dismissed from a law enforcement offi-10
cer position; and 11
‘‘(D) holds a current Tier 4 background 12
investigation or current Tier 5 background in-13
vestigation; or 14
‘‘(3) to a member of the Armed Forces (or a re-15
serve component thereof) or a veteran, if such indi-16
vidual— 17
‘‘(A) has served in the Armed Forces for 18
not fewer than three years; 19
‘‘(B) holds, or has held within the past five 20
years, a Secret, Top Secret, or Top Secret/Sen-21
sitive Compartmented Information clearance; 22
‘‘(C) holds, or has undergone within the 23
past five years, a current Tier 4 background in-24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00028 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 29 
•HR 2794 IH
vestigation or current Tier 5 background inves-1
tigation; 2
‘‘(D) received, or is eligible to receive, an 3
honorable discharge from service in the Armed 4
Forces and has not engaged in criminal activity 5
or committed a serious military or civil offense 6
under the Uniform Code of Military Justice; 7
and 8
‘‘(E) was not granted any waivers to ob-9
tain the clearance referred to in subparagraph 10
(B). 11
‘‘(c) T
ERMINATION OF WAIVERREQUIREMENT; 12
S
NAP-BACK.—The requirement to issue a waiver under 13
subsection (b) shall terminate if the Commissioner of U.S. 14
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) certifies to the 15
Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Rep-16
resentatives and the Committee on Homeland Security 17
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate that CBP has met 18
all requirements pursuant to section 8 of the Border Rein-19
forcement Act of 2023 relating to personnel levels. If at 20
any time after such certification personnel levels fall below 21
such requirements, the Commissioner shall waive the ap-22
plication of subsection (a)(1) until such time as the Com-23
missioner re-certifies to such Committees that CBP has 24
so met all such requirements.’’. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00029 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 30 
•HR 2794 IH
(b) SUPPLEMENTAL COMMISSIONER AUTHORITY; 1
R
EPORTING; DEFINITIONS.—The Anti-Border Corruption 2
Act of 2010 is amended by adding at the end the following 3
new sections: 4
‘‘SEC. 5. SUPPLEMENTAL COMMISSIONER AUTHORITY. 5
‘‘(a) N
ONEXEMPTION.—An individual who receives a 6
waiver under section 3(b) is not exempt from any other 7
hiring requirements relating to suitability for employment 8
and eligibility to hold a national security designated posi-9
tion, as determined by the Commissioner of U.S. Customs 10
and Border Protection. 11
‘‘(b) B
ACKGROUNDINVESTIGATIONS.—An individual 12
who receives a waiver under section 3(b) who holds a cur-13
rent Tier 4 background investigation shall be subject to 14
a Tier 5 background investigation. 15
‘‘(c) A
DMINISTRATION OF POLYGRAPHEXAMINA-16
TION.—The Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border 17
Protection is authorized to administer a polygraph exam-18
ination to an applicant or employee who is eligible for or 19
receives a waiver under section 3(b) if information is dis-20
covered before the completion of a background investiga-21
tion that results in a determination that a polygraph ex-22
amination is necessary to make a final determination re-23
garding suitability for employment or continued employ-24
ment, as the case may be. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 31 
•HR 2794 IH
‘‘SEC. 6. REPORTING. 1
‘‘(a) A
NNUALREPORT.—Not later than one year 2
after the date of the enactment of this section and annu-3
ally thereafter while the waiver authority under section 4
3(b) is in effect, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and 5
Border Protection shall submit to Congress a report that 6
includes, with respect to each such reporting period, the 7
following: 8
‘‘(1) Information relating to the number of 9
waivers granted under such section 3(b). 10
‘‘(2) Information relating to the percentage of 11
applicants who were hired after receiving such a 12
waiver. 13
‘‘(3) Information relating to the number of in-14
stances that a polygraph was administered to an ap-15
plicant who initially received such a waiver and the 16
results of such polygraph. 17
‘‘(4) An assessment of the current impact of 18
such waiver authority on filling law enforcement po-19
sitions at U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 20
‘‘(5) An identification of additional authorities 21
needed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to 22
better utilize such waiver authority for its intended 23
goals. 24
‘‘(b) A
DDITIONALINFORMATION.—The first report 25
submitted under subsection (a) shall include the following: 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00031 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 32 
•HR 2794 IH
‘‘(1) An analysis of other methods of employ-1
ment suitability tests that detect deception and could 2
be used in conjunction with traditional background 3
investigations to evaluate potential applicants or em-4
ployees for suitability for employment or continued 5
employment, as the case may be. 6
‘‘(2) A recommendation regarding whether a 7
test referred to in paragraph (1) should be adopted 8
by U.S. Customs and Border Protection when the 9
polygraph examination requirement is waived pursu-10
ant to section 3(b). 11
‘‘SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 12
‘‘In this Act: 13
‘‘(1) F
EDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER .— 14
The term ‘Federal law enforcement officer’ means a 15
‘law enforcement officer’, as such term is defined in 16
section 8331(20) or 8401(17) of title 5, United 17
States Code. 18
‘‘(2) S
ERIOUS MILITARY OR CIVIL OFFENSE .— 19
The term ‘serious military or civil offense’ means an 20
offense for which— 21
‘‘(A) a member of the Armed Forces may 22
be discharged or separated from service in the 23
Armed Forces; and 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00032 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 33 
•HR 2794 IH
‘‘(B) a punitive discharge is, or would be, 1
authorized for the same or a closely related of-2
fense under the Manual for Court-Martial, as 3
pursuant to Army Regulation 635–200, chapter 4
14–12. 5
‘‘(3) T
IER 4; TIER 5.—The terms ‘Tier 4’ and 6
‘Tier 5’, with respect to background investigations, 7
have the meaning given such terms under the 2012 8
Federal Investigative Standards. 9
‘‘(4) V
ETERAN.—The term ‘veteran’ has the 10
meaning given such term in section 101(2) of title 11
38, United States Code.’’. 12
(c) P
OLYGRAPHEXAMINERS.—Not later than Sep-13
tember 30, 2025, the Secretary shall increase to not fewer 14
than 150 the number of trained full-time equivalent poly-15
graph examiners for administering polygraphs under the 16
Anti-Border Corruption Act of 2010, as amended by this 17
section. 18
SEC. 10. ESTABLISHMENT OF WORKLOAD STAFFING MOD-19
ELS FOR U.S. BORDER PATROL AND AIR AND 20
MARINE OPERATIONS OF CBP. 21
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 22
date of the enactment of this Act, the Commissioner, in 23
coordination with the Under Secretary for Management, 24
the Chief Human Capital Officer, and the Chief Financial 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00033 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 34 
•HR 2794 IH
Officer of the Department, shall implement a workload 1
staffing model for each of the following: 2
(1) The U.S. Border Patrol. 3
(2) Air and Marine Operations of CBP. 4
(b) R
ESPONSIBILITIES OF THE COMMISSIONER.— 5
Subsection (c) of section 411 of the Homeland Security 6
Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 211), is amended— 7
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (18) and (19) 8
as paragraphs (20) and (21), respectively; and 9
(2) by inserting after paragraph (17) the fol-10
lowing new paragraphs: 11
‘‘(18) implement a staffing model for the U.S. 12
Border Patrol, Air and Marine Operations, and the 13
Office of Field Operations that includes consider-14
ation for essential frontline operator activities and 15
functions, variations in operating environments, 16
present and planned infrastructure, present and 17
planned technology, and required operations support 18
levels to enable such entities to manage and assign 19
personnel of such entities to ensure field and sup-20
port posts possess adequate resources to carry out 21
duties specified in this section; 22
‘‘(19) develop standard operating procedures 23
for a workforce tracking system within the U.S. 24
Border Patrol, Air and Marine Operations, and the 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00034 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 35 
•HR 2794 IH
Office of Field Operations, train the workforce of 1
each of such entities on the use, capabilities, and 2
purpose of such system, and implement internal con-3
trols to ensure timely and accurate scheduling and 4
reporting of actual completed work hours and activi-5
ties;’’. 6
(c) R
EPORT.— 7
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than one year 8
after the date of the enactment of this section with 9
respect to subsection (a) and paragraphs (18) and 10
(19) of section 411(c) of the Homeland Security Act 11
of 2002 (as amended by subsection (b)), and annu-12
ally thereafter with respect to such paragraphs (18) 13
and (19), the Secretary shall submit to the appro-14
priate congressional committees a report that in-15
cludes a status update on the following: 16
(A) The implementation of such subsection 17
(a) and such paragraphs (18) and (19). 18
(B) Each relevant workload staffing model. 19
(2) D
ATA SOURCES AND METHODOLOGY RE -20
QUIRED.—Each report required under paragraph (1) 21
shall include information relating to the data sources 22
and methodology used to generate each relevant 23
staffing model. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00035 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 36 
•HR 2794 IH
(d) INSPECTORGENERALREVIEW.—Not later than 1
90 days after the Commissioner develops the workload 2
staffing models pursuant to subsection (a), the Inspector 3
General of the Department shall review such models and 4
provide feedback to the Secretary and the appropriate con-5
gressional committees with respect to the degree to which 6
such models are responsive to the recommendations of the 7
Inspector General, including the following: 8
(1) Recommendations from the Inspector Gen-9
eral’s February 2019 audit. 10
(2) Any further recommendations to improve 11
such models. 12
(e) A
PPROPRIATECONGRESSIONALCOMMITTEESDE-13
FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres-14
sional committees’’ means— 15
(1) the Committee on Homeland Security of the 16
House of Representatives; and 17
(2) the Committee on Homeland Security and 18
Governmental Affairs of the Senate. 19
SEC. 11. OPERATION STONEGARDEN. 20
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subtitle A of title XX of the 21
Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) 22
is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00036 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 37 
•HR 2794 IH
‘‘SEC. 2010. OPERATION STONEGARDEN. 1
‘‘(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 2
Department a program to be known as ‘Operation 3
Stonegarden’, under which the Secretary, acting through 4
the Administrator, shall make grants to eligible law en-5
forcement agencies, through State administrative agen-6
cies, to enhance border security in accordance with this 7
section. 8
‘‘(b) E
LIGIBLERECIPIENTS.—To be eligible to re-9
ceive a grant under this section, a law enforcement agency 10
shall— 11
‘‘(1) be located in— 12
‘‘(A) a State bordering Canada or Mexico; 13
or 14
‘‘(B) a State or territory with a maritime 15
border; 16
‘‘(2) be involved in an active, ongoing, U.S. 17
Customs and Border Protection operation coordi-18
nated through a U.S. Border Patrol sector office; 19
and 20
‘‘(3) have an agreement in place with U.S. Im-21
migration and Customs Enforcement to support en-22
forcement operations. 23
‘‘(c) P
ERMITTEDUSES.—A recipient of a grant 24
under this section may use such grant for costs associated 25
with the following: 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00037 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 38 
•HR 2794 IH
‘‘(1) Equipment, including maintenance and 1
sustainment. 2
‘‘(2) Personnel, including overtime and backfill, 3
in support of enhanced border law enforcement ac-4
tivities. 5
‘‘(3) Any activity permitted for Operation 6
Stonegarden under the most recent fiscal year De-7
partment of Homeland Security’s Homeland Secu-8
rity Grant Program Notice of Funding Opportunity. 9
‘‘(d) P
ERIOD OFPERFORMANCE.—The Secretary 10
shall award grants under this section to grant recipients 11
for a period of not fewer than 36 months. 12
‘‘(e) N
OTIFICATION.—Upon denial of a grant to a law 13
enforcement agency, the Administrator shall provide writ-14
ten notice to the Committee on Homeland Security of the 15
House of Representatives and the Committee on Home-16
land Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, in-17
cluding the reasoning for such denial. 18
‘‘(f) R
EPORT.—For each of fiscal years 2024 through 19
2028 the Administrator shall submit to the Committee on 20
Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and 21
the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 22
Affairs of the Senate a report that contains— 23
‘‘(1) information on the expenditure of grants 24
made under this section by each grant recipient; and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00038 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 39 
•HR 2794 IH
‘‘(2) recommendations for other uses of such 1
grants to further support eligible law enforcement 2
agencies. 3
‘‘(g) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 4
is authorized to be appropriated $110,000,000 for each 5
of fiscal years 2024 through 2028 for grants under this 6
section.’’. 7
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—Subsection (a) of 8
section 2002 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 9
U.S.C. 603) is amended to read as follows: 10
‘‘(a) G
RANTSAUTHORIZED.—The Secretary, through 11
the Administrator, may award grants under sections 2003, 12
2004, 2009, and 2010 to State, local, and Tribal govern-13
ments, as appropriate.’’. 14
(c) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of contents 15
in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is 16
amended by inserting after the item relating to section 17
2009 the following new item: 18
‘‘Sec. 2010. Operation Stonegarden.’’. 
SEC. 12. AIR AND MARINE OPERATIONS FLIGHT HOURS. 
19
(a) A
IR AND MARINEOPERATIONS FLIGHT 20
H
OURS.—Not later than 120 days after the date of enact-21
ment of this Act, The Secretary shall ensure that not 22
fewer than 110,000 annual flight hours are carried out 23
by Air and Marine Operations of CBP. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00039 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 40 
•HR 2794 IH
(b) UNMANNED AIRCRAFTSYSTEMS.—The Sec-1
retary, after coordination with the Administrator of the 2
Federal Aviation Administration, shall ensure that Air and 3
Marine Operations operate unmanned aircraft systems on 4
the southern border of the United States for not less than 5
24 hours per day. 6
(c) P
RIMARYMISSIONS.—The Commissioner shall 7
ensure the following: 8
(1) The primary missions for Air and Marine 9
Operations are to directly support the following: 10
(A) U.S. Border Patrol activities along the 11
borders of the United States. 12
(B) Joint Interagency Task Force South 13
and Joint Task Force East operations in the 14
transit zone. 15
(2) The Executive Assistant Commissioner of 16
Air and Marine Operations assigns the greatest pri-17
ority to support missions specified in paragraph (1). 18
(d) H
IGHDEMANDFLIGHTHOURREQUIRE-19
MENTS.—The Commissioner shall— 20
(1) ensure that U.S. Border Patrol Sector 21
Chiefs identify air support mission-critical hours; 22
and 23
(2) direct Air and Marine Operations to sup-24
port requests from such Sector Chiefs as a compo-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00040 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 41 
•HR 2794 IH
nent of the primary mission of Air and Marine Op-1
erations in accordance with subsection (c)(1)(A). 2
(e) C
ONTRACTAIRSUPPORTAUTHORIZATIONS.— 3
The Commissioner shall contract for air support mission- 4
critical hours to meet the requests for such hours, as iden-5
tified pursuant to subsection (d). 6
(f) S
MALLUNMANNEDAIRCRAFTSYSTEMS.— 7
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Chief of the U.S. Bor-8
der Patrol shall be the executive agent with respect 9
to the use of small unmanned aircraft by CBP for 10
the purposes of the following: 11
(A) Meeting the unmet flight hour oper-12
ational requirements of the U.S. Border Patrol. 13
(B) Achieving situational awareness and 14
operational control of the borders of the United 15
States. 16
(2) C
OORDINATION.—In carrying out para-17
graph (1), the Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol shall 18
coordinate— 19
(A) flight operations with the Adminis-20
trator of the Federal Aviation Administration to 21
ensure the safe and efficient operation of the 22
national airspace system; and 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00041 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 42 
•HR 2794 IH
(B) with the Executive Assistant Commis-1
sioner for Air and Marine Operations of CBP 2
to— 3
(i) ensure the safety of other CBP 4
aircraft flying in the vicinity of small un-5
manned aircraft operated by the U.S. Bor-6
der Patrol; and 7
(ii) establish a process to include data 8
from flight hours in the calculation of got 9
away statistics. 10
(3) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENT .—Paragraph (3) 11
of section 411(e) of the Homeland Security Act of 12
2002 (6 U.S.C. 211(e)) is amended— 13
(A) in subparagraph (B), by striking 14
‘‘and’’ after the semicolon at the end; 15
(B) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as 16
subparagraph (D); and 17
(C) by inserting after subparagraph (B) 18
the following new subparagraph: 19
‘‘(C) carry out the small unmanned air-20
craft (as such term is defined in section 44801 21
of title 49, United States Code) requirements 22
pursuant to subsection (f) of section 12 of the 23
Border Reinforcement Act of 2023; and’’. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00042 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 43 
•HR 2794 IH
(g) SAVINGSCLAUSE.—Nothing in this section may 1
be construed as conferring, transferring, or delegating to 2
the Secretary, the Commissioner, the Executive Assistant 3
Commissioner for Air and Marine Operations of CBP, or 4
the Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol any authority of the 5
Secretary of Transportation or the Administrator of the 6
Federal Aviation Administration relating to the use of air-7
space or aviation safety. 8
(h) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 9
(1) G
OT AWAY.—The term ‘‘got away’’ has the 10
meaning given such term in section 1092(a)(3) of 11
the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 12
Year 2017 (Public Law 114–328; 6 U.S.C. 13
223(a)(3)). 14
(2) T
RANSIT ZONE.—The term ‘‘transit zone’’ 15
has the meaning given such term in section 16
1092(a)(8) of the National Defense Authorization 17
Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 114–328; 6 18
U.S.C. 223(a)(8)). 19
SEC. 13. ERADICATION OF CARRIZO CANE AND SALT 20
CEDAR. 21
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 22
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in coordi-23
nation with the heads of relevant Federal, State, and local 24
agencies, shall hire contractors to begin eradicating the 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00043 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 44 
•HR 2794 IH
carrizo cane plant and any salt cedar along the Rio 1
Grande River that impedes border security operations. 2
Such eradication shall be completed— 3
(1) by not later than September 30, 2027, ex-4
cept for required maintenance; and 5
(2) in the most expeditious and cost-effective 6
manner possible to maintain clear fields of view. 7
(b) A
PPLICATION.—The waiver authority under sub-8
section (c) of section 102 of the Illegal Immigration Re-9
form and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 10
1103 note), as amended by section 4 of this Act, shall 11
apply to activities carried out pursuant to subsection (a). 12
(c) R
EPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 13
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 14
to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of 15
Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security 16
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a strategic plan 17
to eradicate all carrizo cane plant and salt cedar along 18
the Rio Grande River that impedes border security oper-19
ations by not later than September 30, 2027. 20
(d) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.—There is 21
authorized to be appropriated $7,000,000 for each of fis-22
cal years 2024 through 2028 to the Secretary to carry 23
out this subsection. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00044 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 45 
•HR 2794 IH
SEC. 14. BORDER PATROL STRATEGIC PLAN. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 2
date of the enactment of this section and biennially there-3
after, the Commissioner, acting through the Chief of the 4
U.S. Border Patrol, shall issue a Border Patrol Strategic 5
Plan (referred to in this section as the ‘‘plan’’) to enhance 6
the security of the international borders of the United 7
States. 8
(b) E
LEMENTS.—The plan shall include the fol-9
lowing: 10
(1) A consideration of Border Patrol Capability 11
Gap Analysis reporting, Border Security Improve-12
ment Plans, and any other strategic document au-13
thored by the U.S. Border Patrol to address security 14
gaps between ports of entry, including efforts to 15
mitigate threats identified in such analyses, plans, 16
and documents. 17
(2) Information relating to the dissemination of 18
information relating to border security or border 19
threats with respect to the efforts of the Department 20
and other appropriate Federal agencies. 21
(3) Information relating to efforts by U.S. Bor-22
der Patrol to— 23
(A) increase situational awareness, includ-24
ing— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00045 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 46 
•HR 2794 IH
(i) surveillance capabilities, such as 1
capabilities developed or utilized by the 2
Department of Defense, and any appro-3
priate technology determined to be excess 4
by the Department of Defense; and 5
(ii) the use of manned aircraft and 6
unmanned aircraft; 7
(B) detect and prevent terrorists and in-8
struments of terrorism from entering the 9
United States; 10
(C) detect, interdict, and disrupt between 11
ports of entry aliens unlawfully present in the 12
United States; 13
(D) detect, interdict, and disrupt human 14
smuggling, human trafficking, drug trafficking, 15
and other illicit cross-border activity; 16
(E) focus intelligence collection to disrupt 17
transnational criminal organizations outside of 18
the international and maritime borders of the 19
United States; and 20
(F) ensure that any new border security 21
technology can be operationally integrated with 22
existing technologies in use by the Department. 23
(4) Information relating to initiatives of the De-24
partment with respect to operational coordination, 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00046 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 47 
•HR 2794 IH
including any relevant task forces of the Depart-1
ment. 2
(5) Information gathered from the lessons 3
learned by the deployments of the National Guard to 4
the southern border of the United States. 5
(6) A description of cooperative agreements re-6
lating to information sharing with State, local, Trib-7
al, territorial, and other Federal law enforcement 8
agencies that have jurisdiction on the borders of the 9
United States. 10
(7) Information relating to border security in-11
formation received from the following: 12
(A) State, local, Tribal, territorial, and 13
other Federal law enforcement agencies that 14
have jurisdiction on the borders of the United 15
States or in the maritime environment. 16
(B) Border community stakeholders, in-17
cluding representatives from the following: 18
(i) Border agricultural and ranching 19
organizations. 20
(ii) Business and civic organizations. 21
(iii) Hospitals and rural clinics within 22
150 miles of the borders of the United 23
States. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00047 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 48 
•HR 2794 IH
(iv) Victims of crime committed by 1
aliens unlawfully present in the United 2
States. 3
(v) Victims impacted by drugs, 4
transnational criminal organizations, car-5
tels, gangs, or other criminal activity. 6
(vi) Farmers, ranchers, and property 7
owners along the border. 8
(vii) Other individuals negatively im-9
pacted by illegal immigration. 10
(8) Information relating to the staffing require-11
ments with respect to border security for the De-12
partment. 13
(9) A prioritized list of Department research 14
and development objectives to enhance the security 15
of the borders of the United States. 16
(10) An assessment of training programs, in-17
cluding such programs relating to the following: 18
(A) Identifying and detecting fraudulent 19
documents. 20
(B) Understanding the scope of CBP en-21
forcement authorities and appropriate use of 22
force policies. 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00048 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 49 
•HR 2794 IH
(C) Screening, identifying, and addressing 1
vulnerable populations, such as children and 2
victims of human trafficking. 3
SEC. 15. U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION SPIR-4
ITUAL READINESS. 5
Not later than one year after the enactment of this 6
Act and annually thereafter, the Commissioner shall sub-7
mit to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House 8
of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Secu-9
rity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report on 10
the availability and usage of the assistance of chaplains, 11
prayer groups, houses of worship, and other spiritual re-12
sources for members of CBP who identify as religiously 13
affiliated and have attempted suicide, have suicidal idea-14
tion, or are at risk of suicide, and metrics on the impact 15
such resources have in assisting religiously affiliated mem-16
bers who have access to and utilize such resources com-17
pared to religiously affiliated members who do not. 18
SEC. 16. RESTRICTIONS ON FUNDING. 19
(a) A
RRIVINGALIENS.—No funds are authorized to 20
be appropriated to the Department to process the entry 21
into the United States of aliens arriving in between ports 22
of entry. 23
(b) R
ESTRICTION ONNONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANI-24
ZATIONSUPPORT FORUNLAWFULACTIVITY.—No funds 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00049 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 50 
•HR 2794 IH
are authorized to be appropriated to the Department for 1
disbursement to any nongovernmental organization that 2
facilitates or encourages unlawful activity, including un-3
lawful entry, human trafficking, human smuggling, drug 4
trafficking, and drug smuggling. 5
(c) R
ESTRICTION ONNONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANI-6
ZATIONSUPPORT FORALIENS.—No funds are authorized 7
to be appropriated to the Department for disbursement 8
to any nongovernmental organization that provides serv-9
ices for aliens who are entering or have entered the United 10
States, whether at or between ports of entry. 11
SEC. 17. COLLECTION OF DNA AND BIOMETRIC INFORMA-12
TION AT THE BORDER. 13
Not later than 14 days after the date of the enact-14
ment of this Act, the Secretary shall ensure and certify 15
to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of 16
Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security 17
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate that CBP is fully 18
compliant with Federal DNA and biometric collection re-19
quirements at United States land borders. 20
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00050 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 51 
•HR 2794 IH
SEC. 18. ERADICATION OF NARCOTIC DRUGS AND FORMU-1
LATING EFFECTIVE NEW TOOLS TO ADDRESS 2
YEARLY LOSSES OF LIFE; ENSURING TIMELY 3
UPDATES TO U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER 4
PROTECTION FIELD MANUALS. 5
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 6
date of the enactment of this Act, and not less frequently 7
than triennially thereafter, the Commissioner of U.S. Cus-8
toms and Border Protection shall review and update, as 9
necessary, the current policies and manuals of the Office 10
of Field Operations related to inspections at ports of 11
entry, and the U.S. Border Patrol related to inspections 12
between ports of entry, to ensure the uniform implementa-13
tion of inspection practices that will effectively respond to 14
technological and methodological changes designed to dis-15
guise unlawful activity, such as the smuggling of drugs 16
and humans, along the border. 17
(b) R
EPORTINGREQUIREMENT.—Not later than 90 18
days after each update required under subsection (a), the 19
Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection 20
shall submit the Committee on Homeland Security and the 21
Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representa-22
tives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov-23
ernmental Affairs and the Committee on the Judiciary of 24
the Senate a report that summarizes any policy and man-25
ual changes pursuant to subsection (a). 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00051 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 52 
•HR 2794 IH
SEC. 19. PUBLICATION BY U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PRO-1
TECTION OF OPERATIONAL STATISTICS. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than the seventh day of 3
each month beginning with the second full month after 4
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commissioner 5
of U.S. Customs and Border Protection shall publish on 6
a publicly available website of the Department of Home-7
land Security information relating to the total number of 8
alien encounters and nationalities, unique alien encounters 9
and nationalities, gang affiliated apprehensions and na-10
tionalities, drug seizures, alien encounters included in the 11
terrorist screening database and nationalities, arrests of 12
criminal aliens or individuals wanted by law enforcement 13
and nationalities, known got aways, encounters with de-14
ceased aliens, and all other related or associated statistics 15
recorded by U.S. Customs and Border Protection during 16
the immediately preceding month. Each such publication 17
shall include the following: 18
(1) The aggregate such number, and such num-19
ber disaggregated by geographic regions, of such re-20
cordings and encounters, including specifications re-21
lating to whether such recordings and encounters 22
were at the southwest, northern, or maritime border. 23
(2) An identification of the Office of Field Op-24
erations field office, U.S. Border Patrol sector, or 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00052 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 53 
•HR 2794 IH
Air and Marine Operations branch making each re-1
cording or encounter. 2
(3) Information relating to whether each re-3
cording or encounter of an alien was of a single 4
adult, an unaccompanied alien child, or an individual 5
in a family unit. 6
(4) Information relating to the processing dis-7
position of each alien recording or encounter. 8
(5) Information relating to the nationality of 9
each alien who is the subject of each recording or 10
encounter. 11
(6) The total number of individuals included in 12
the terrorist screening database (as such term is de-13
fined in section 2101 of the Homeland Security Act 14
of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 621)) who have repeatedly at-15
tempted to cross unlawfully into the United States. 16
(7) The total number of individuals included in 17
the terrorist screening database who have been ap-18
prehended, including information relating to whether 19
such individuals were released into the United States 20
or removed. 21
(b) E
XCEPTIONS.—If the Commissioner of U.S. Cus-22
toms and Border Protection in any month does not publish 23
the information required under subsection (a), or does not 24
publish such information by the date specified in such sub-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00053 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 54 
•HR 2794 IH
section, the Commissioner shall brief the Committee on 1
Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and 2
the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 3
Affairs of the Senate regarding the reason relating there-4
to, as the case may be, by not later than the date that 5
is two business days after the tenth day of such month. 6
(c) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 7
(1) A
LIEN ENCOUNTERS.—The term ‘‘alien en-8
counters’’ means aliens apprehended, determined in-9
admissible, or processed for removal by U.S. Cus-10
toms and Border Protection. 11
(2) G
OT AWAY.—The term ‘‘got away’’ has the 12
meaning given such term in section 1092(a) of the 13
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 14
2017 (6 U.S.C. 223(a)). 15
(3) T
ERRORIST SCREENING DATABASE .—The 16
term ‘‘terrorist screening database’’ has the meaning 17
given such term in section 2101 of the Homeland 18
Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 621). 19
(4) U
NACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHILD .—The term 20
‘‘unaccompanied alien child’’ has the meaning given 21
such term in section 462(g) of the Homeland Secu-22
rity Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 279(g)). 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00054 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 55 
•HR 2794 IH
SEC. 20. ALIEN CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than seven days after 2
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commissioner 3
shall certify to the Committee on Homeland Security and 4
the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Rep-5
resentatives and the Committee on Homeland Security 6
and Governmental Affairs and the Committee on the Judi-7
ciary of the Senate that CBP has real-time access to the 8
criminal history databases of all countries of origin and 9
transit for aliens encountered by CBP to perform criminal 10
history background checks for such aliens. 11
(b) S
TANDARDS.—The certification required under 12
subsection (a) shall also include a determination whether 13
the criminal history databases of a country are accurate, 14
up to date, digitized, searchable, and otherwise meet the 15
standards of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 16
criminal history databases maintained by State and local 17
governments. 18
(c) C
ERTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall annually 19
submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and the 20
Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representa-21
tives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov-22
ernmental Affairs and the Committee on the Judiciary of 23
the Senate a certification that each database referred to 24
in subsection (b) which the Secretary accessed or sought 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00055 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 56 
•HR 2794 IH
to access pursuant to this section met the standards de-1
scribed in subsection (b). 2
SEC. 21. PROHIBITED IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENTS AT 3
AIRPORT SECURITY CHECKPOINTS; NOTIFI-4
CATION TO IMMIGRATION AGENCIES. 5
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Administrator may not ac-6
cept as valid proof of identification a prohibited identifica-7
tion document at an airport security checkpoint. 8
(b) N
OTIFICATION TOIMMIGRATIONAGENCIES.—If 9
an individual presents a prohibited identification docu-10
ment to an officer of the Transportation Security Admin-11
istration at an airport security checkpoint, the Adminis-12
trator shall promptly notify the Director of U.S. Immigra-13
tion and Customs Enforcement, the Director of U.S. Cus-14
toms and Border Protection, and the head of the appro-15
priate local law enforcement agency to determine whether 16
the individual is in violation of any term of release from 17
the custody of any such agency. 18
(c) E
NTRYINTOSTERILEAREAS.— 19
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-20
graph (2), if an individual is found to be in violation 21
of any term of release under subsection (b), the Ad-22
ministrator may not permit such individual to enter 23
a sterile area. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00056 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 57 
•HR 2794 IH
(2) EXCEPTION.—An individual presenting a 1
prohibited identification document under this section 2
may enter a sterile area if the individual— 3
(A) is leaving the United States for the 4
purposes of removal or deportation; or 5
(B) presents a covered identification docu-6
ment. 7
(d) C
OLLECTION OFBIOMETRICINFORMATIONFROM 8
C
ERTAININDIVIDUALSSEEKINGENTRYINTO THESTER-9
ILEAREA OF ANAIRPORT.—Beginning not later than 120 10
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad-11
ministrator shall collect biometric information from an in-12
dividual described in subsection (e) prior to authorizing 13
such individual to enter into a sterile area. 14
(e) I
NDIVIDUALDESCRIBED.—An individual de-15
scribed in this subsection is an individual who— 16
(1) is seeking entry into the sterile area of an 17
airport; 18
(2) does not present a covered identification 19
document; and 20
(3) the Administrator cannot verify is a na-21
tional of the United States. 22
(f) P
ARTICIPATION INIDENT.—Beginning not later 23
than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 24
the Administrator, in coordination with the Secretary, 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00057 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 58 
•HR 2794 IH
shall submit biometric data collected under this section to 1
the Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT). 2
(g) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 3
(1) A
DMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-4
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Transpor-5
tation Security Administration. 6
(2) B
IOMETRIC INFORMATION .—The term ‘‘bio-7
metric information’’ means any of the following: 8
(A) A fingerprint. 9
(B) A palm print. 10
(C) A photograph, including— 11
(i) a photograph of an individual’s 12
face for use with facial recognition tech-13
nology; and 14
(ii) a photograph of any physical or 15
anatomical feature, such as a scar, skin 16
mark, or tattoo. 17
(D) A signature. 18
(E) A voice print. 19
(F) An iris image. 20
(3) C
OVERED IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENT .— 21
The term ‘‘covered identification document’’ means 22
any of the following, if the document is valid and 23
unexpired: 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00058 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 59 
•HR 2794 IH
(A) A United States passport or passport 1
card. 2
(B) A biometrically secure card issued by 3
a trusted or registered traveler program of the 4
Department of Homeland Security, including— 5
(i) Global Entry; 6
(ii) Nexus; 7
(iii) Secure Electronic Network for 8
Travelers Rapid Inspection (SENTRI); 9
and 10
(iv) Free and Secure Trade (FAST). 11
(C) An identification card issued by the 12
Department of Defense, including such a card 13
issued to a dependent. 14
(D) Any document required for admission 15
to the United States under section 211(a) of 16
the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 17
1181(a)). 18
(E) An enhanced driver’s license issued by 19
a State. 20
(F) A photo identification card issued by a 21
federally recognized Indian Tribe. 22
(G) A personal identity verification creden-23
tial issued in accordance with Homeland Secu-24
rity Presidential Directive 12. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00059 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 60 
•HR 2794 IH
(H) A driver’s license issued by a province 1
of Canada. 2
(I) A Secure Certificate of Indian Status 3
issued by the Government of Canada. 4
(J) A Transportation Worker Identifica-5
tion Credential. 6
(K) An Employment Authorization Docu-7
ment issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigra-8
tion Services. 9
(L) A Merchant Mariner Credential issued 10
by the Coast Guard. 11
(M) A Veteran Health Identification Card 12
issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs. 13
(N) Any other document the Administrator 14
determines, pursuant to a rule making in ac-15
cordance with section 553 of title 5, United 16
States Code, will satisfy the identity verification 17
procedures of the Transportation Security Ad-18
ministration. 19
(4) I
MMIGRATION LAWS.—The term ‘‘immigra-20
tion laws’’ has the meaning given that term in sec-21
tion 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 22
U.S.C. 1101). 23
(5) P
ROHIBITED IDENTIFICATION DOCU -24
MENT.—The term ‘‘prohibited identification docu-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00060 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 61 
•HR 2794 IH
ment’’ means any of the following (or any applicable 1
successor form): 2
(A) U.S. Immigration and Customs En-3
forcement Form I–200, Warrant for Arrest of 4
Alien. 5
(B) U.S. Immigration and Customs En-6
forcement Form I–205, Warrant of Removal/ 7
Deportation. 8
(C) U.S. Immigration and Customs En-9
forcement Form I–220A, Order of Release on 10
Recognizance. 11
(D) U.S. Immigration and Customs En-12
forcement Form I–220B, Order of Supervision. 13
(E) Department of Homeland Security 14
Form I–862, Notice to Appear. 15
(F) U.S. Customs and Border Protection 16
Form I–94, Arrival/Departure Record (includ-17
ing a print-out of an electronic record). 18
(G) Department of Homeland Security 19
Form I–385, Notice to Report. 20
(H) Any document that directs an indi-21
vidual to report to the Department of Home-22
land Security. 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00061 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 62 
•HR 2794 IH
(I) Any Department of Homeland Security 1
work authorization or employment verification 2
document. 3
(6) S
TERILE AREA.—The term ‘‘sterile area’’ 4
has the meaning given that term in section 1540.5 5
of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, or any suc-6
cessor regulation. 7
SEC. 22. PROHIBITION AGAINST ANY COVID–19 VACCINE 8
MANDATE OR ADVERSE ACTION AGAINST 9
DHS EMPLOYEES. 10
(a) L
IMITATION ON IMPOSITION OF NEWMAN-11
DATE.—The Secretary may not issue any COVID–19 vac-12
cine mandate unless Congress expressly authorizes such 13
a mandate. 14
(b) P
ROHIBITION ONADVERSEACTION.—The Sec-15
retary may not take any adverse action against a Depart-16
ment employee based solely on the refusal of such em-17
ployee to receive a vaccine for COVID–19. 18
(c) R
EPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the date 19
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall report 20
to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of 21
Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security 22
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate on the following: 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00062 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 63 
•HR 2794 IH
(1) The number of Department employees who 1
were terminated or resigned due to the COVID–19 2
vaccine mandate. 3
(2) An estimate of the cost to reinstate such 4
employees. 5
(3) How the Department would effectuate rein-6
statement of such employees. 7
(d) R
ETENTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF 8
U
NVACCINATEDEMPLOYEES.—The Secretary shall make 9
every effort to retain Department employees who are not 10
vaccinated against COVID–19 and provide such employees 11
with professional development, promotion and leadership 12
opportunities, and consideration equal to that of their 13
peers. 14
SEC. 23. CBP ONE APP LIMITATION. 15
(a) L
IMITATION.—The Department may use the CBP 16
One Mobile Application or any other similar program, ap-17
plication, internet-based portal, website, device, or initia-18
tive only for inspection of perishable cargo. 19
(b) R
EPORT.—Not later than 60 days after the date 20
of the enactment of this section, the Commissioner shall 21
report to the Committee on Homeland Security of the 22
House of Representatives and the Committee on Home-23
land Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate the 24
date on which CBP began using CBP One to allow aliens 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00063 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 64 
•HR 2794 IH
to schedule interviews at land ports of entry, how many 1
aliens have scheduled interviews at land ports of entry 2
using CBP One, the nationalities of such aliens, and the 3
stated final destinations of such aliens within the United 4
States, if any. 5
SEC. 24. REPORT ON DESIGNATION OF MEXICAN CARTELS 6
AS FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS. 7
(a) R
EPORT.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 9
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 10
of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Sec-11
retary of State, shall submit to the appropriate con-12
gressional committees a report on whether a Mexi-13
can drug cartel described in paragraph (2) meets the 14
criteria for designation as foreign terrorist organiza-15
tion. 16
(2) M
EXICAN DRUG CARTELS DESCRIBED .—The 17
Mexican drug cartels described in this paragraph in-18
clude the following: 19
(A) Jalisco New Generation Cartel. 20
(B) Sinaloa Cartel. 21
(C) Juarez Cartel. 22
(D) Tijuana Cartel. 23
(E) Gulf Cartel. 24
(F) Los Zetas. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00064 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 65 
•HR 2794 IH
(G) Las Moicas. 1
(H) Los Caballeros Templarios. 2
(I) Beltran-Leyva Organization. 3
(J) Los Rojos. 4
(K) La Familia Michoacana. 5
(b) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 6
(1) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -7
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-8
mittees’’ means— 9
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 10
Committee on Homeland Security, and the 11
Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 12
Representatives; and 13
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 14
the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov-15
ernmental Affairs, and the Committee on the 16
Judiciary of the Senate. 17
(2) F
OREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION .—The 18
term ‘‘foreign terrorist organization’’ means an or-19
ganization described in section 219 of the Immigra-20
tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189). 21
(c) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-22
tion may be construed to expand the eligibility for asylum 23
of any alien by reason of the designation of a drug cartel 24
as a foreign terrorist organization. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00065 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 66 
•HR 2794 IH
SEC. 25. GAO STUDY ON COSTS INCURRED BY STATES TO 1
SECURE THE SOUTHWEST BORDER. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 3
date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 4
of the United States shall conduct a study to examine the 5
costs incurred by individual States as a result of actions 6
taken by such States in support of the Federal mission 7
to secure the southwest border, and the feasibility of a 8
program to reimburse such States for such costs. 9
(b) C
ONTENTS.—The study required under sub-10
section (a) shall include consideration of the following: 11
(1) Actions taken by the Department of Home-12
land Security that have contributed to costs de-13
scribed in such subsection incurred by States to se-14
cure the border in the absence of Federal action, in-15
cluding the termination of the Migrant Protection 16
Protocols and cancellation of border wall construc-17
tion. 18
(2) Actions taken by individual States along the 19
southwest border to secure their borders, and the 20
costs associated with such actions. 21
(3) The feasibility of a program within the De-22
partment of Homeland Security to reimburse States 23
for the costs incurred in support of the Federal mis-24
sion to secure the southwest border. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00066 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 67 
•HR 2794 IH
SEC. 26. REPORT BY INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE DE-1
PARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY. 2
(a) R
EPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 3
of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter for 4
five years, the Inspector General of the Department of 5
Homeland Security shall submit to the Committee on 6
Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and 7
the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 8
Affairs of the Senate a report examining the economic and 9
security impact of mass migration to municipalities and 10
States along the southwest border. Such report shall in-11
clude information regarding costs incurred by the fol-12
lowing: 13
(1) State and local law enforcement to secure 14
the southwest border. 15
(2) Public school districts to educate students 16
who are aliens unlawfully present in the United 17
States. 18
(3) Healthcare providers to provide care to 19
aliens unlawfully present in the United States who 20
have not paid for such care. 21
(4) Farmers and ranchers due to migration im-22
pacts to their properties. 23
(b) C
ONSULTATION.—To produce the report required 24
under subsection (a), the Inspector General of the Depart-25
ment of Homeland Security shall consult with the individ-26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00067 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 68 
•HR 2794 IH
uals and representatives of the entities described in para-1
graphs (1) through (4) of such subsection. 2
SEC. 27. OFFSETTING AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIA-3
TIONS. 4
(a) O
FFICE OF THESECRETARY AND EMERGENCY 5
M
ANAGEMENT.—No funds are authorized to be appro-6
priated for the Alternatives to Detention Case Manage-7
ment Pilot Program or the Office of the Immigration De-8
tention Ombudsman for the Office of the Secretary and 9
Emergency Management of the Department of Homeland 10
Security. 11
(b) M
ANAGEMENTDIRECTORATE.—No funds are au-12
thorized to be appropriated for electric vehicles or St. Eliz-13
abeth’s campus construction for the Management Direc-14
torate of the Department of Homeland Security. 15
(c) I
NTELLIGENCE, ANALYSIS, ANDSITUATIONAL 16
A
WARENESS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 17
$216,000,000 for Intelligence, Analysis, and Situational 18
Awareness of the Department of Homeland Security. 19
(d) U.S. C
USTOMS ANDBORDERPROTECTION.—No 20
funds are authorized to be appropriated for the Shelter 21
Services Program for U.S. Customs and Border Protec-22
tion. 23
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00068 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS