I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 285
To establish Joint Operations Centers along the southern border of the
United States, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY9, 2025
Mr. J
OYCEof Ohio (for himself, Ms. LEEof Nevada, Mr. CISCOMANI, and
Mr. P
APPAS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Ways
and Means, and Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently de-
termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To establish Joint Operations Centers 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 ‘‘Advanced Border Co-4
ordination Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF JOINT OPERATIONS CENTERS. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 7
date of enactment of this Act, the Department shall estab-8
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•HR 285 IH
lish not fewer than 2 Joint Operations Centers along the 1
southern border of the United States to provide unified 2
coordination centers, where law enforcement from multiple 3
Federal, State, local, and Tribal agencies can collaborate 4
in accordance with the purposes described in subsection 5
(b). 6
(b) M
ATTERSCOVERED.—The Centers shall provide 7
centralized operations hubs for matters related to the fol-8
lowing: 9
(1) Implementing coordination and communica-10
tion for field operations between participating Fed-11
eral, State, local, and Tribal agencies, as needed. 12
(2) Coordinating operations across participating 13
Federal, State, local, and Tribal agencies, as needed, 14
including ground, air, and sea or amphibious oper-15
ations. 16
(3) Coordinating and supporting border oper-17
ations, including deterring and detecting criminal ac-18
tivity related to— 19
(A) transnational criminal organizations; 20
(B) illegal border crossings; 21
(C) the seizure of weapons; 22
(D) the seizure of drugs; 23
(E) the seizure of high valued property; 24
(F) terrorism; 25
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•HR 285 IH
(G) human trafficking; 1
(H) drug trafficking; and 2
(I) such additional matters as the Sec-3
retary considers appropriate. 4
(c) I
NFORMATION SHARING.—To ensure effective 5
transmission of information between participating Fed-6
eral, State, local, and Tribal agencies, for purposes of sub-7
section (b), coordination and communication shall in-8
clude— 9
(1) Federal agencies sharing pertinent informa-10
tion with participating State, local, and Tribal agen-11
cies through the Centers; and 12
(2) Federal agencies notifying participating 13
State, local, and Tribal agencies of operations occur-14
ring within the jurisdictions of those agencies. 15
(d) W
ORKFORCE CAPABILITIES.—The Centers 16
shall— 17
(1) track and coordinate deployment of partici-18
pating personnel; and 19
(2) coordinate training, as needed. 20
(e) R
EPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 21
of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter, the 22
Secretary shall consult with participating Federal agen-23
cies, and shall seek feedback from participating State, 24
local, and Tribal agencies, to report to Congress— 25
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•HR 285 IH
(1) a description of the efforts undertaken to 1
establish the Centers; 2
(2) an identification of the resources used for 3
the operations of the Centers; 4
(3) a description of the key operations coordi-5
nated and supported by each Center; 6
(4) a description of any significant interoper-7
ability and communication gaps identified between 8
participating Federal, State, local, and Tribal agen-9
cies within each Center; 10
(5) recommendations for improved coordination 11
and communication between participating Federal 12
agencies in developing and operating current and fu-13
ture Centers; and 14
(6) other data as the Secretary determines ap-15
propriate. 16
(f) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 17
(1) C
ENTERS.—The term ‘‘Centers’’ means the 18
Joint Operations Centers established under section 19
3(a). 20
(2) D
EPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 21
means the Department of Homeland Security. 22
(3) P
ARTICIPATING FEDERAL AGENCY .—The 23
term ‘‘participating Federal agency’’ means— 24
(A) the Department; 25
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•HR 285 IH
(B) the Department of Defense; 1
(C) the Department of Justice; and 2
(D) any other Federal agency as the Sec-3
retary determines appropriate. 4
(4) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 5
the Secretary of Homeland Security. 6
(5) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each 7
State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 8
and any territory or possession of the United States. 9
Æ
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