I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2026
To mitigate environmental degradation and wildland fires caused by illegal
immigration along the southern border of the United States, and for
other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH11, 2025
Mr. C
ALVERTintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agri-
culture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To mitigate environmental degradation and wildland fires
caused by illegal immigration along the southern border
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. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ending Major Border-4
land Environmental Ruin from Wildfires (EMBER) Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
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(1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -1
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-2
mittees’’ means— 3
(A) the Committees on Natural Resources, 4
Agriculture, Homeland Security, and the Judi-5
ciary of the House of Representatives; and 6
(B) the Committees on Energy and Nat-7
ural Resources, Agriculture, Nutrition, and 8
Forestry, Homeland Security and Governmental 9
Affairs, and the Judiciary of the Senate. 10
(2) B
ORDER STATE.—The term ‘‘Border State’’ 11
means a State that abuts the southern border. 12
(3) C
OVERED FEDERAL LANDS .— 13
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘covered 14
Federal lands’’ means land— 15
(i) owned by the United States; 16
(ii) located in a unit that shares an 17
exterior boundary with the southern bor-18
der; and 19
(iii) administered by— 20
(I) the National Park Service; 21
(II) the Bureau of Land Manage-22
ment; 23
(III) the United States Fish and 24
Wildlife Service; 25
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(IV) the Bureau of Reclamation; 1
or 2
(V) the Forest Service. 3
(B) E
XCLUSION.—The term ‘‘covered Fed-4
eral lands’’ does not include Federal lands held 5
in trust for Indian Tribes. 6
(4) O
PERATIONAL CONTROL .—The term ‘‘oper-7
ational control’’ has the meaning given such term in 8
section 2(b) of the Secure Fence Act of 2006 (8 9
U.S.C. 1701 note; Public Law 109–367). 10
(5) S
ECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term ‘‘Sec-11
retary concerned’’ means— 12
(A) the Secretary of the Interior, with re-13
spect to lands under the jurisdiction of the Sec-14
retary of the Interior; and 15
(B) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting 16
through the Chief of the Forest Service, with 17
respect to National Forest System lands. 18
(6) S
OUTHERN BORDER .—The term ‘‘southern 19
border’’ means the international border between the 20
United States and Mexico. 21
SEC. 3. SOUTHERN BORDER FUELS MANAGEMENT INITIA-22
TIVE. 23
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year after 24
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 25
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the Interior shall establish a program to be known as the 1
‘‘Southern Border Fuels Management Initiative’’ (in this 2
section referred to as the ‘‘Initiative’’). 3
(b) P
URPOSE.—The purpose of the Initiative is to 4
carry out vegetation management activities along the 5
southern border in order to— 6
(1) reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire 7
along the southern border and improve landscape re-8
silience; 9
(2) improve operational control of the southern 10
border; and 11
(3) improve visibility and sight lines along the 12
southern border to increase safety for law enforce-13
ment. 14
(c) A
CTIVITIES.—In carrying out the Initiative, the 15
Secretary shall— 16
(1) reduce hazardous fuels along the southern 17
border; 18
(2) address invasive or non-native species along 19
the southern border that contribute to wildfire risk 20
or decrease operation efficiency of border patrol op-21
erations; 22
(3) install fuel breaks along the southern bor-23
der; and 24
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(4) set targets for acres to treat under the pro-1
gram for each fiscal year. 2
(d) C
OORDINATION.—In carrying out the Initiative, 3
the Secretary shall coordinate and may enter into memo-4
randums of understanding with the Forest Service, U.S. 5
Border Patrol, and State, local, or Tribal law enforcement 6
agencies. 7
(e) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 8
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of the Inte-9
rior to carry out this section $3,660,000 for each of fiscal 10
years 2026 through 2032. 11
(f) T
ERMINATION.—The Initiative shall terminate 7 12
years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 13
SEC. 4. MITIGATING ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION AND 14
WILDLAND FIRES CAUSED BY ILLEGAL IMMI-15
GRATION. 16
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 17
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary concerned, 18
in coordination with the Secretary of Homeland Security, 19
shall establish and implement policies and protocols to 20
mitigate, avoid, or prevent— 21
(1) wildland fires ignited by aliens without law-22
ful immigration status; and 23
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(2) environmental degradation on covered Fed-1
eral lands caused by aliens without lawful immigra-2
tion status crossing the southern border. 3
(b) P
ROTOCOLS.—In developing the protocols under 4
subsection (a), the Secretary concerned shall consider poli-5
cies to— 6
(1) reduce trash accumulation along the south-7
ern border, particularly in ecologically sensitive 8
areas; 9
(2) prevent the ignition of wildland fires by 10
aliens without lawful immigration status, particu-11
larly in areas where there is a risk of— 12
(A) loss of life or property; 13
(B) damage to critical wildlife habitat; 14
(C) damage to public infrastructure; and 15
(D) degradation of watersheds or public 16
water sources; 17
(3) address the destruction of sensitive natural 18
and archeological resources; and 19
(4) address the destruction of wildlife habitat. 20
(c) R
EPORT TOCONGRESS.—Not later than 1 year 21
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 22
concerned shall submit to the appropriate congressional 23
committees a report that includes— 24
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(1) a description of the policies and protocols 1
established under subsection (a); 2
(2) a catalog of all reported incidents of envi-3
ronmental degradation and wildland fires ignited by 4
aliens without lawful immigration status, includ-5
ing— 6
(A) the number of acres burned and total 7
number of fires ignited; 8
(B) a description of each incident of envi-9
ronmental degradation and the total number of 10
such incidents; 11
(C) the estimated cost of cleaning up or re-12
mediating such environmental degradation; 13
(D) the number of such aliens connected to 14
each fire and whether or not they were appre-15
hended; and 16
(E) the area in which incidents of environ-17
mental degradation occurred, including areas 18
congressionally designated for the protection of 19
natural resources; and 20
(3) additional resources or authorities necessary 21
to mitigate, avoid, or prevent wildland fires and en-22
vironmental degradation caused by aliens without 23
lawful immigration status crossing the southern bor-24
der. 25
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(d) UPDATEDREPORT.— 1
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 2
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comp-3
troller General of the United States shall update its 4
November 2011 report entitled ‘‘Federal Agencies 5
Could Better Utilize Law Enforcement Resources in 6
Support of Wildland Fire Management Activities’’. 7
(2) A
DDITIONAL STATES CONSIDERED .—In up-8
dating the report under paragraph (1), the Comp-9
troller General shall include information on each 10
Border State. 11
Æ
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