I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 488
To require the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State
to implement a strategy to combat the efforts of transnational criminal
organizations to recruit individuals in the United States via social media
platforms and other online services and assess their use of such platforms
and services for illicit activities.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY16, 2025
Mr. C
ISCOMANI(for himself and Ms. HOULAHAN) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition
to the Committees on Homeland Security, Foreign Affairs, and Energy
and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak-
er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju-
risdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Homeland Security and the
Secretary of State to implement a strategy to combat
the efforts of transnational criminal organizations to re-
cruit individuals in the United States via social media
platforms and other online services and assess their use
of such platforms and services for illicit activities.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Combating Cartels on 2
Social Media Act of 2025’’. 3
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 4
In this Act: 5
(1) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -6
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-7
mittees’’ means— 8
(A) the Committee on Homeland Security 9
and Governmental Affairs, the Committee on 10
the Judiciary, and the Committee on Foreign 11
Relations of the Senate; and 12
(B) the Committee on Homeland Security, 13
the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Com-14
mittee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep-15
resentatives. 16
(2) C
OVERED OPERATOR .—The term ‘‘covered 17
operator’’ means the operator, developer, or pub-18
lisher of a covered service. 19
(3) C
OVERED SERVICE.—The term ‘‘covered 20
service’’ means— 21
(A) a social media platform; 22
(B) a mobile or desktop service with direct 23
or group messaging capabilities, but not includ-24
ing text messaging services without other sub-25
stantial social functionalities or electronic mail 26
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services, that the Secretary of Homeland Secu-1
rity determines is being or has been used by 2
transnational criminal organizations in connec-3
tion with matters described in section 3; or 4
(C) a digital platform, or an electronic ap-5
plication utilizing the digital platform, involving 6
real-time interactive communication between 7
multiple individuals, including multi-player 8
gaming services and immersive technology plat-9
forms or applications, that the Secretary of 10
Homeland Security determines is being or has 11
been used by transnational criminal organiza-12
tions in connection with matters described in 13
section 3. 14
(4) C
RIMINAL ENTERPRISE.—The term ‘‘crimi-15
nal enterprise’’ has the meaning given the term 16
‘‘continuing criminal enterprise’’ in section 408 of 17
the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 848). 18
(5) I
LLICIT ACTIVITIES.—The term ‘‘illicit ac-19
tivities’’ means the following criminal activities that 20
transcend national borders: 21
(A) A violation of section 401 of the Con-22
trolled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 841). 23
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(B) Narcotics trafficking, as defined in 1
section 808 of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin 2
Designation Act (21 U.S.C. 1907). 3
(C) Weapons trafficking. 4
(D) Migrant smuggling, defined as a viola-5
tion of section 274(a)(1)(A)(ii) of the Immigra-6
tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 7
1324(a)(1)(A)(ii)). 8
(E) Human trafficking, defined as— 9
(i) a violation of section 1590, 1591, 10
or 1592 of title 18, United States Code; or 11
(ii) engaging in severe forms of traf-12
ficking in persons, as defined in section 13
103 of the Victims of Trafficking and Vio-14
lence Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 15
7102). 16
(F) Cyber crime, defined as a violation of 17
section 1030 of title 18, United States Code. 18
(G) A violation of any provision that is 19
subject to intellectual property enforcement, as 20
defined in section 302 of the Prioritizing Re-21
sources and Organization for Intellectual Prop-22
erty Act of 2008 (15 U.S.C. 8112). 23
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(H) Bulk cash smuggling of currency, de-1
fined as a violation of section 5332 of title 31, 2
United States Code. 3
(I) Laundering the proceeds of the crimi-4
nal activities described in subparagraphs (A) 5
through (H). 6
(6) T
RANSNATIONAL CRIMINAL ORGANIZA -7
TION.—The term ‘‘transnational criminal organiza-8
tion’’ means a group, or network, and associated in-9
dividuals, that operate transnationally for the pur-10
poses of obtaining power, influence, or monetary or 11
commercial gain, wholly or in part by certain unlaw-12
ful means, while advancing their activities through a 13
pattern of crime, corruption, or violence, and while 14
protecting their unlawful activities through a 15
transnational organizational structure and the ex-16
ploitation of public corruption or transnational logis-17
tics, financial, or communication mechanisms. 18
SEC. 3. ASSESSMENT OF ILLICIT USAGE. 19
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 20
of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the At-21
torney General, and the Secretary of State shall submit 22
to the appropriate congressional committees a joint assess-23
ment describing— 24
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(1) the use of covered services by transnational 1
criminal organizations, or criminal enterprises acting 2
on behalf of transnational criminal organizations, to 3
engage in recruitment efforts, including the recruit-4
ment of individuals located in the United States, to 5
engage in or provide support with respect to illicit 6
activities occurring in the United States, Mexico, or 7
otherwise in proximity to an international border of 8
the United States; 9
(2) the use of covered services by transnational 10
criminal organizations, or criminal enterprises acting 11
on behalf of transnational criminal organizations, to 12
engage in illicit activities or conduct in support of il-13
licit activities, including— 14
(A) smuggling or trafficking involving nar-15
cotics, other controlled substances, precursors 16
thereof, or other items prohibited under the 17
laws of the United States, Mexico, or another 18
relevant jurisdiction, including firearms; 19
(B) human smuggling or trafficking, with 20
a particular focus on the exploitation of chil-21
dren; and 22
(C) transportation of bulk currency or 23
monetary instruments in furtherance of smug-24
gling or trafficking; and 25
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(3) the existing efforts of the Secretary of 1
Homeland Security, the Attorney General, the Sec-2
retary of State, and relevant government and law 3
enforcement entities to counter, monitor, or other-4
wise respond to the usage of covered services de-5
scribed in paragraphs (1) and (2). 6
SEC. 4. STRATEGY TO COMBAT CARTEL RECRUITMENT ON 7
SOCIAL MEDIA AND ONLINE PLATFORMS. 8
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 9
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland 10
Security, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of State 11
shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 12
a joint strategy, to be known as the ‘‘National Strategy 13
to Combat Illicit Recruitment Activity by Transnational 14
Criminal Organizations on Social Media and Online Plat-15
forms’’, to combat the use of covered services by 16
transnational criminal organizations, or criminal enter-17
prises acting on behalf of transnational criminal organiza-18
tions, to recruit individuals located in the United States 19
to engage in or provide support for illicit activities occur-20
ring in the United States, Mexico, or otherwise in prox-21
imity to an international border of the United States. 22
(b) E
LEMENTS.— 23
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(1) IN GENERAL.—The strategy required under 1
subsection (a) shall, at a minimum, include the fol-2
lowing: 3
(A) A proposal to improve cooperation be-4
tween the Secretary of Homeland Security, the 5
Attorney General, the Secretary of State, and 6
relevant government and law enforcement enti-7
ties. 8
(B) Recommendations to implement a 9
process for the voluntary reporting of informa-10
tion regarding the recruitment efforts of 11
transnational criminal organizations, or crimi-12
nal enterprises acting on behalf of transnational 13
criminal organizations, in the United States in-14
volving covered services. 15
(C) A proposal to improve 16
intragovernmental coordination with respect to 17
the matters described in subsection (a), includ-18
ing between the Department of Homeland Secu-19
rity, the Department of Justice, the Depart-20
ment of State, and State, Tribal, and local gov-21
ernments. 22
(D) A proposal to improve coordination 23
within the Department of Homeland Security, 24
the Department of Justice, and the Department 25
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of State and between the components of those 1
Departments with respect to the matters de-2
scribed in subsection (a). 3
(E) Activities to facilitate increased intel-4
ligence analysis for law enforcement purposes of 5
efforts of transnational criminal organizations, 6
or criminal enterprises acting on behalf of 7
transnational criminal organizations, to utilize 8
covered services for recruitment to engage in or 9
provide support with respect to illicit activities. 10
(F) Activities to foster international part-11
nerships and enhance collaboration with foreign 12
governments and, as applicable, multilateral in-13
stitutions, with respect to the matters described 14
in subsection (a). 15
(G) Activities to specifically increase en-16
gagement and outreach with youth in border 17
communities, including regarding the recruit-18
ment tactics of transnational criminal organiza-19
tions, or criminal enterprises acting on behalf of 20
transnational criminal organizations, and the 21
consequences of participation in illicit activities. 22
(H) A detailed description of the measures 23
used to ensure— 24
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(i) law enforcement and intelligence 1
activities focus on the recruitment activi-2
ties of transnational criminal organiza-3
tions, or criminal enterprises acting on be-4
half of transnational criminal organiza-5
tions, rather than individuals the 6
transnational criminal organizations or en-7
terprises, as the case may be, attempt to 8
or successfully recruit; and 9
(ii) the protection of privacy rights, 10
civil rights, and civil liberties in carrying 11
out the activities described in clause (i), 12
with a particular focus on the protections 13
in place to protect minors and constitu-14
tionally protected activities. 15
(2) L
IMITATION.—The strategy required under 16
subsection (a) shall not include legislative rec-17
ommendations or elements predicated on the passage 18
of legislation that is not enacted as of the date on 19
which the strategy is submitted under subsection 20
(a). 21
(c) C
ONSULTATION.—In drafting and implementing 22
the strategy required under subsection (a), the Secretary 23
of Homeland Security, the Attorney General, and the Sec-24
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retary of State shall, at a minimum, consult and engage 1
with— 2
(1) the heads of relevant components of the De-3
partment of Homeland Security, including— 4
(A) the Under Secretary for Intelligence 5
and Analysis; 6
(B) the Under Secretary for Strategy, Pol-7
icy, and Plans; 8
(C) the Under Secretary for Science and 9
Technology; 10
(D) the Commissioner of U.S. Customs 11
and Border Protection; 12
(E) the Director of U.S. Immigration and 13
Customs Enforcement; 14
(F) the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil 15
Liberties; 16
(G) the Privacy Officer; and 17
(H) the Assistant Secretary of the Office 18
for State and Local Law Enforcement; 19
(2) the heads of relevant components of the De-20
partment of Justice, including— 21
(A) the Assistant Attorney General for the 22
Criminal Division; 23
(B) the Assistant Attorney General for Na-24
tional Security; 25
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(C) the Assistant Attorney General for the 1
Civil Rights Division; 2
(D) the Chief Privacy and Civil Liberties 3
Officer; 4
(E) the Director of the Organized Crime 5
Drug Enforcement Task Forces; 6
(F) the Director of the Federal Bureau of 7
Investigation; and 8
(G) the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, 9
Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; 10
(3) the heads of relevant components of the De-11
partment of State, including— 12
(A) the Assistant Secretary for Inter-13
national Narcotics and Law Enforcement Af-14
fairs; 15
(B) the Assistant Secretary for Western 16
Hemisphere Affairs; and 17
(C) the Coordinator of the Global Engage-18
ment Center; 19
(4) the Secretary of Health and Human Serv-20
ices; 21
(5) the Secretary of Education; and 22
(6) as selected by the Secretary of Homeland 23
Security, or his or her designee in the Office of Pub-24
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lic Engagement, representatives of border commu-1
nities, including representatives of— 2
(A) State, Tribal, and local governments, 3
including school districts and local law enforce-4
ment; and 5
(B) nongovernmental experts in the fields 6
of— 7
(i) civil rights and civil liberties; 8
(ii) online privacy; 9
(iii) humanitarian assistance for mi-10
grants; and 11
(iv) youth outreach and rehabilitation. 12
(d) I
MPLEMENTATION.— 13
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 14
the date on which the strategy required under sub-15
section (a) is submitted to the appropriate congres-16
sional committees, the Secretary of Homeland Secu-17
rity, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of 18
State shall commence implementation of the strat-19
egy. 20
(2) R
EPORT.— 21
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 22
days after the date on which the strategy re-23
quired under subsection (a) is implemented 24
under paragraph (1), and semiannually there-25
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after for 5 years, the Secretary of Homeland 1
Security, the Attorney General, and the Sec-2
retary of State shall submit to the appropriate 3
congressional committees a joint report describ-4
ing the efforts of the Secretary of Homeland 5
Security, the Attorney General, and the Sec-6
retary of State, respectively, to implement the 7
strategy required under subsection (a) and the 8
progress of those efforts, which shall include a 9
description of— 10
(i) the recommendations, and cor-11
responding implementation of those rec-12
ommendations, with respect to the matters 13
described in subsection (b)(1)(B); 14
(ii) the interagency posture with re-15
spect to the matters covered by the strat-16
egy required under subsection (a), which 17
shall include a description of collaboration 18
between the Secretary of Homeland Secu-19
rity, the Attorney General, the Secretary of 20
State, other Federal entities, State, local, 21
and Tribal entities, foreign governments 22
and, as applicable, multilateral institu-23
tions,; and 24
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(iii) the threat landscape, including 1
new developments related to the recruit-2
ment efforts of transnational criminal or-3
ganizations, or criminal enterprises acting 4
on behalf of transnational criminal organi-5
zations, and the use by such organizations 6
or enterprises, as the case may be, of new 7
or emergent covered services and recruit-8
ment methods. 9
(B) F
ORM.—Each report required under 10
subparagraph (A) shall be submitted in unclas-11
sified form, but may contain a classified annex. 12
(3) C
IVIL RIGHTS, CIVIL LIBERTIES, AND PRI-13
VACY ASSESSMENT.—Not later than 2 years after 14
the date on which the strategy required under sub-15
section (a) is implemented under paragraph (1), the 16
Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the 17
Privacy Office of the Department of Homeland Se-18
curity, in consultation with the Assistant Attorney 19
General for the Civil Rights Division and the Chief 20
Privacy and Civil Liberties Officer of the Depart-21
ment of Justice, shall submit to the appropriate con-22
gressional committees a joint report that includes— 23
(A) a detailed assessment of the measures 24
used to ensure the protection of civil rights, 25
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civil liberties, and privacy rights in carrying out 1
this section; and 2
(B) recommendations to improve the im-3
plementation of the strategy required under 4
subsection (a). 5
(4) R
ULEMAKING.—Prior to implementation of 6
the strategy required under subsection (a) at the 7
Department of Homeland Security, the Secretary of 8
Homeland Security shall issue rules to carry out this 9
section in accordance with section 553 of title 5, 10
United States Code. 11
SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 12
Nothing in this Act may be construed to expand the 13
statutory law enforcement or regulatory authority of the 14
Department of Homeland Security, the Department of 15
Justice, or the Department of State. 16
SEC. 6. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS. 17
No additional funds are authorized to be appro-18
priated for the purpose of carrying out this Act. 19
Æ
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