Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1294 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.
OldNewDifferences
11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 1294
55 To pilot the use of image technician positions in the U.S. Customs and
66 Border Protection Office of Field Operations.
77 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
88 FEBRUARY13, 2025
99 Mr. C
1010 ISCOMANI(for himself and Mr. DAVISof North Carolina) introduced the
1111 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security
1212 A BILL
1313 To pilot the use of image technician positions in the U.S.
1414 Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations.
1515 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
1616 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
1717 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLES. 3
1818 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Border Enforcement, 4
1919 Security, and Trade Facilitation Act of 2025’’ or the 5
2020 ‘‘BEST Facilitation Act’’. 6
2121 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:34 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1294.IH H1294
2222 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
2323 •HR 1294 IH
2424 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF FIELD OPERATIONS IMAGE TECHNICIAN 1
2525 PILOT PROGRAM. 2
2626 (a) I
2727 NGENERAL.—Section 411(g) of the Homeland 3
2828 Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 211(g)) is amended by 4
2929 adding at the end the following: 5
3030 ‘‘(6) I
3131 MAGE TECHNICIAN PILOT PROGRAM .— 6
3232 ‘‘(A) I
3333 MAGE TECHNICIAN 1.— 7
3434 ‘‘(i) I
3535 N GENERAL.—There shall be in 8
3636 the Office of Field Operations, Image 9
3737 Technician 1 positions, which shall be 10
3838 filled in accordance with the provisions 11
3939 under chapter 33 (relating to appointments 12
4040 in the competitive service) and chapters 51 13
4141 and 53 (relating to classification and rates 14
4242 of pay) of title 5, United States Code. 15
4343 ‘‘(ii) C
4444 ONDITIONS.—Image Technician 16
4545 1 positions— 17
4646 ‘‘(I) may be filled by existing 18
4747 U.S. Customs and Border Protection 19
4848 employees; 20
4949 ‘‘(II) are not law enforcement of-21
5050 ficer positions; 22
5151 ‘‘(III) may not be filled by inde-23
5252 pendent contractors; and 24
5353 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:34 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1294.IH H1294
5454 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
5555 •HR 1294 IH
5656 ‘‘(IV) shall be assigned to a re-1
5757 gional command center established 2
5858 under subparagraph (F). 3
5959 ‘‘(iii) D
6060 UTIES.—The duties of an 4
6161 Image Technician 1 shall include— 5
6262 ‘‘(I) reviewing non-intrusive in-6
6363 spection images of conveyances and 7
6464 containers entering or exiting the 8
6565 United States through a land, sea, or 9
6666 air port of entry or international rail 10
6767 crossing; 11
6868 ‘‘(II) assessing whether images of 12
6969 conveyances and containers appear to 13
7070 contain anomalies indicating the po-14
7171 tential presence of contraband, per-15
7272 sons unlawfully seeking to enter or 16
7373 exit the United States, or illicitly con-17
7474 cealed merchandise, including illicit 18
7575 drugs and terrorist weapons; 19
7676 ‘‘(III) recommending entry re-20
7777 lease or exit release for any convey-21
7878 ances and containers whenever the im-22
7979 ages of such items do not include no-23
8080 ticeable anomalies indicating the po-24
8181 tential presence of contraband, per-25
8282 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:34 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1294.IH H1294
8383 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
8484 •HR 1294 IH
8585 sons seeking to unlawfully enter or 1
8686 exit the United States, or illicitly con-2
8787 cealed merchandise, including illicit 3
8888 drugs or terrorist weapons, to the 4
8989 U.S. Customs and Border Protection 5
9090 Officer responsible for inspecting such 6
9191 conveyance or container; and 7
9292 ‘‘(IV) recommending further in-8
9393 spection of any conveyances and con-9
9494 tainers whenever the Image Techni-10
9595 cian reasonably believes that an image 11
9696 of any such item contains anomalies 12
9797 indicating the potential presence of 13
9898 contraband, persons seeking to unlaw-14
9999 fully enter or exit the United States, 15
100100 or illicitly concealed merchandise, 16
101101 such as illicit drugs or terrorist weap-17
102102 ons, to the U.S. Customs and Border 18
103103 Protection officer who is responsible 19
104104 for inspecting such conveyance or con-20
105105 tainer. 21
106106 ‘‘(B) I
107107 MAGE TECHNICIAN 2.— 22
108108 ‘‘(i) I
109109 N GENERAL.—There shall be in 23
110110 the Office of Field Operations, Image 24
111111 Technician 2 positions, which shall be 25
112112 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:34 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1294.IH H1294
113113 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5
114114 •HR 1294 IH
115115 filled in accordance with the provisions 1
116116 under chapter 33 (relating to appointments 2
117117 in the competitive service) and chapters 51 3
118118 and 53 (relating to classification and rates 4
119119 of pay) of title 5, United States Code. 5
120120 ‘‘(ii) C
121121 ONDITIONS.—Image Technician 6
122122 2 positions— 7
123123 ‘‘(I) may be filled by existing 8
124124 U.S. Customs and Border Protection 9
125125 employees; 10
126126 ‘‘(II) are not law enforcement of-11
127127 ficer positions; 12
128128 ‘‘(III) may not be filled by inde-13
129129 pendent contractors; and 14
130130 ‘‘(IV) shall be assigned to a re-15
131131 gional command center established 16
132132 under subparagraph (F). 17
133133 ‘‘(iii) D
134134 UTIES.—The duties of an 18
135135 Image Technician 2 shall include— 19
136136 ‘‘(I) carrying out all of the duties 20
137137 described in subclauses (I) through 21
138138 (IV) of subparagraph (A)(ii); 22
139139 ‘‘(II) receiving intelligence from 23
140140 the National Targeting Center regard-24
141141 ing tactics, techniques, and proce-25
142142 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:34 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1294.IH H1294
143143 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6
144144 •HR 1294 IH
145145 dures being used at ports of entry and 1
146146 in the border environment by malign 2
147147 actors to facilitate the unlawful entry 3
148148 or exit of contraband, persons, or illic-4
149149 itly concealed merchandise, such as il-5
150150 licit drugs or terrorist weapons; and 6
151151 ‘‘(III) reporting new information 7
152152 to the National Targeting Center re-8
153153 garding tactics, techniques, and proce-9
154154 dures being used at ports of entry and 10
155155 in the border environment by malign 11
156156 actors to facilitate the unlawful entry 12
157157 or exit of contraband, persons, or con-13
158158 cealed merchandise, such as illicit 14
159159 drugs or terrorist weapons. 15
160160 ‘‘(C) S
161161 UPERVISORY U.S. CUSTOMS AND 16
162162 BORDER PROTECTION OFFICERS .— 17
163163 ‘‘(i) S
164164 UPERVISION.—All image techni-18
165165 cians shall be supervised by a Supervisory 19
166166 U.S. Customs and Border Protection Offi-20
167167 cer. 21
168168 ‘‘(ii) D
169169 ISCRETION AND DECISION-MAK-22
170170 ING AUTHORITY.—The appropriate Super-23
171171 visory U.S. Customs and Border Protec-24
172172 tion Officer, while working with image 25
173173 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:34 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1294.IH H1294
174174 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7
175175 •HR 1294 IH
176176 technicians, shall retain the discretion and 1
177177 final decision-making authority— 2
178178 ‘‘(I) to release conveyances or 3
179179 cargo for entry; or 4
180180 ‘‘(II) to refer such conveyance or 5
181181 cargo for further inspection. 6
182182 ‘‘(iii) T
183183 RAINING.—A Supervisory U.S. 7
184184 Customs and Border Protection Officer 8
185185 who supervises image technicians shall re-9
186186 ceive additional training in accordance with 10
187187 subparagraph (D). 11
188188 ‘‘(D) T
189189 RAINING REQUIREMENTS .—All 12
190190 image technicians shall receive annual training 13
191191 and additional ad hoc training, to the extent 14
192192 necessary based on current trends, regarding— 15
193193 ‘‘(i) respecting privacy, civil rights, 16
194194 and civil liberties, including the protections 17
195195 against unreasonable searches and seizures 18
196196 afforded by the First and Fourth Amend-19
197197 ments to the Constitution of the United 20
198198 States, as applicable and as interpreted by 21
199199 the Federal courts; 22
200200 ‘‘(ii) analyzing images generated by 23
201201 non-intrusive inspection technologies or 24
202202 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:34 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1294.IH H1294
203203 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8
204204 •HR 1294 IH
205205 any successor technologies deployed by 1
206206 U.S. Customs and Border Protection; 2
207207 ‘‘(iii) identifying commodities and 3
208208 merchandise in images generated by non- 4
209209 intrusive inspection technologies or any 5
210210 successor technologies deployed by U.S. 6
211211 Customs and Border Protection; 7
212212 ‘‘(iv) identifying contraband, persons 8
213213 who are seeking to unlawfully enter or exit 9
214214 the United States, or illicitly concealed 10
215215 merchandise, such as illicit drugs or ter-11
216216 rorist weapons, in images generated by 12
217217 non-intrusive technologies or any successor 13
218218 technologies deployed by U.S. Customs and 14
219219 Border Protection; 15
220220 ‘‘(v) tactics, techniques, and proce-16
221221 dures being used at ports of entry and in 17
222222 the border environment by malign actors to 18
223223 facilitate the unlawful entry or exit of con-19
224224 traband, persons, or illicitly concealed mer-20
225225 chandise, such as illicit drugs or terrorist 21
226226 weapons; and 22
227227 ‘‘(vi) any other training that the Com-23
228228 missioner of U.S. Customs and Border 24
229229 Protection determines to be relevant to the 25
230230 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:34 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1294.IH H1294
231231 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9
232232 •HR 1294 IH
233233 duties described in subparagraphs (A)(iii) 1
234234 or (B)(iii). 2
235235 ‘‘(E) A
236236 NNUAL ASSESSMENT .—All image 3
237237 technicians shall receive annual testing with re-4
238238 spect to their— 5
239239 ‘‘(i) accuracy in image analysis; 6
240240 ‘‘(ii) timeliness in image analysis; and 7
241241 ‘‘(iii) ability to ascertain tactics, tech-8
242242 niques, and procedures being used at ports 9
243243 of entry and in the border environment by 10
244244 malign actors to facilitate the unlawful 11
245245 entry or exit of contraband, persons, or il-12
246246 licitly concealed merchandise, such as illicit 13
247247 drugs or terrorist weapons. 14
248248 ‘‘(F) C
249249 OMMAND CENTERS .—As part of the 15
250250 pilot program established under this paragraph, 16
251251 the Executive Assistant Commissioner of the 17
252252 Office of Field Operations shall establish 5 re-18
253253 gional command centers at land, rail, air, and 19
254254 sea ports in which image technicians shall re-20
255255 view non-intrusive inspection images. 21
256256 ‘‘(G) R
257257 ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing 22
258258 in this paragraph may be construed to affect 23
259259 the discretion and final decision-making author-24
260260 ity given to U.S. Customs and Border Protec-25
261261 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:34 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1294.IH H1294
262262 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 10
263263 •HR 1294 IH
264264 tion Officers to release conveyances or cargo for 1
265265 entry or exit or to refer such conveyances or 2
266266 cargo for further inspection.’’. 3
267267 (b) E
268268 FFECTIVEDATE.— 4
269269 (1) S
270270 UNSET.—The amendment made by sub-5
271271 section (a) shall cease to have effect on the date that 6
272272 is 5 years after the date of the enactment of this 7
273273 Act. 8
274274 (2) T
275275 RANSFERS AUTHORIZED .—Upon the ter-9
276276 mination of the pilot program established by section 10
277277 411(g)(6) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, as 11
278278 added by subsection (a), individuals occupying 12
279279 Image Technician 1 or Image Technician 2 positions 13
280280 in the Office of Field Operations may transfer to 14
281281 comparable positions within U.S. Customs and Bor-15
282282 der Protection or the Department of Homeland Se-16
283283 curity. 17
284284 SEC. 3. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 18
285285 (a) S
286286 EMIANNUALREPORTS.—Not later than 180 19
287287 days after the hiring of the first positions described in sec-20
288288 tion 411(g)(6) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, as 21
289289 added by section 2, and every 180 days thereafter, the 22
290290 Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in 23
291291 consultation with the Executive Assistant Commissioner 24
292292 of the Office of Field Operations, shall submit a report 25
293293 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:34 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1294.IH H1294
294294 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 11
295295 •HR 1294 IH
296296 to the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern-1
297297 mental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Home-2
298298 land Security of the House of Representatives that identi-3
299299 fies— 4
300300 (1) the number of Image Technician 1 and 5
301301 Image Technician 2 positions filled during the re-6
302302 porting period; 7
303303 (2) the number of Image Technician 1 and 8
304304 Image Technician 2 positions currently employed by 9
305305 the Office of Field Operations, disaggregated by— 10
306306 (A) port of entry or field office; 11
307307 (B) image technician position; and 12
308308 (C) command center, as applicable; 13
309309 (3) the daily average number of images scanned 14
310310 by each Image Technician 1 and each Image Techni-15
311311 cian 2; 16
312312 (4) training methodologies utilized to train 17
313313 image technicians; 18
314314 (5) assessment passage rates of image techni-19
315315 cians; 20
316316 (6) the impact of image technicians on interdic-21
317317 tion rates at ports of entry and international rail 22
318318 crossings at which image technicians are stationed 23
319319 or from which image technicians review images, in-24
320320 cluding— 25
321321 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:34 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1294.IH H1294
322322 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 12
323323 •HR 1294 IH
324324 (A) throughput increases or decreases at 1
325325 such ports of entry and international rail cross-2
326326 ings; 3
327327 (B) increases or decreases in waiting times 4
328328 at such ports of entry and international rail 5
329329 crossings; 6
330330 (C) average wait times at such ports of 7
331331 entry and international rail crossings; and 8
332332 (D) increases or decreases of seizures of 9
333333 contraband, persons seeking to unlawfully enter 10
334334 or exit the United States, or illicitly concealed 11
335335 merchandise, such as illicit drugs or terrorist 12
336336 weapons, broken down by type of seizure and 13
337337 port of entry or international rail crossing; 14
338338 (7) the impact of image technicians on U.S. 15
339339 Customs and Border Protection’s capability to re-16
340340 view non-intrusive inspection images of conveyances 17
341341 and containers entering or exiting the United States 18
342342 through a land, sea, or air port of entry or inter-19
343343 national rail crossing; 20
344344 (8) an assessment of the effectiveness with 21
345345 which image technicians carry out the duties de-22
346346 scribed in subparagraphs (A)(iii) and (B)(iii) of sec-23
347347 tion 411(g)(6) of the Homeland Security Act of 24
348348 2002, as added by section 2(a), compared to any 25
349349 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:34 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1294.IH H1294
350350 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 13
351351 •HR 1294 IH
352352 U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers who 1
353353 are assigned such duties. 2
354354 (9) the progress made in establishing command 3
355355 centers under the pilot program established by such 4
356356 section; 5
357357 (10) any infrastructure or resource needs re-6
358358 quired to establish such command centers; and 7
359359 (11) the ports of entry and international rail 8
360360 crossing, as applicable, that are supported by such 9
361361 a command center. 10
362362 (b) B
363363 IANNUALBRIEFINGS.—The Executive Assistant 11
364364 Commissioner of the Office of Field Operations shall pro-12
365365 vide biannual briefings to the Committee on Homeland Se-13
366366 curity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the 14
367367 Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Rep-15
368368 resentatives regarding the information described in the 16
369369 latest report submitted pursuant to subsection (a). 17
370370 Æ
371371 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:34 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1294.IH H1294
372372 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB