I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 506
To require assessments for Foreign Terrorist Organization designations, au-
thorize certain appropriations for certain fiscal years for Operation
Stonegarden, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY16, 2025
Mr. T
ONYGONZALESof Texas (for himself, Mr. CISCOMANI, Ms. SALAZAR,
Ms. D
ELACRUZ, Mr. FEENSTRA, Mr. EVANSof Colorado, Mr.
V
ALADAO, Mrs. KIM, Mr. KEAN, Mr. BABIN, Mr. CRENSHAW, Mr.
W
EBERof Texas, Mrs. HINSON, Mr. HIGGINSof Louisiana, and Mr.
M
OYLAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Homeland Security, and in addition to the Committee on the
Judiciary, 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 require assessments for Foreign Terrorist Organization
designations, authorize certain appropriations for certain
fiscal years for Operation Stonegarden, 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 ‘‘Security First Act’’. 4
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
Congress finds the following: 2
(1) Since FY2021, there were more than 8.72 3
million encounters at the Southwest border. 4
(2) Since FY2021, there have been roughly 2 5
million known ‘‘gotaways’’ that have evaded United 6
States Border Patrol. 7
(3) Since FY2021, there were 395 encounters 8
in between our borders with individuals on the Ter-9
rorist Screening Dataset, also known as the terrorist 10
watchlist. 11
(4) Since FY2021, 9,254 pounds of fentanyl 12
have been seized between ports of entry nationwide. 13
(5) In 2023, there were 105,007 opioid deaths, 14
with 72,776 deaths involving synthetic opioids like 15
fentanyl. 16
(6) Mexican cartels and transnational criminal 17
organizations have been linked to committing severe 18
crimes including homicides, rape, sexual assault, and 19
kidnappings, and significantly influence drug traf-20
ficking and human trafficking across the Southwest 21
border, organizing and profiting off these illicit oper-22
ations. 23
(7) In 2024, U.S. Border Patrol sent out mul-24
tiple alerts to personnel warning of Mexican cartel 25
members being permitted to shoot at Border Patrol 26
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Agents and engage in retaliatory shootings, a direct 1
threat to homeland security. 2
(8) In 2024, Homeland Security Investigations 3
(HSI) sent out an alert to personnel that Ven-4
ezuelan gang Tren de Aragua had been given the 5
‘‘green light’’ to fire on or attack law enforcement 6
in Colorado, a direct threat to homeland security. 7
(9) State and local law enforcement continue to 8
assume a larger and critical role aiding federal law 9
enforcement in border security operations with lim-10
ited, finite resources. 11
(10) Federal, State, and local law enforcement 12
need the resources necessary to secure U.S. borders 13
and protect the homeland. 14
SEC. 3. OPERATION STONEGARDEN APPROPRIATIONS AND 15
TRUST FUND. 16
(a) C
ERTAINAPPROPRIATIONS.—There is authorized 17
to be appropriated for each of fiscal years 2025 through 18
2028 $110,000,000 for the Operation Stonegarden grant 19
program, and not less than $36,666,666 for each of fiscal 20
years 2025 through 2028 to procure technology and equip-21
ment, including communications equipment, sensors, and 22
drone technology. 23
(b) O
PERATIONSTONEGARDENTRUSTFUND.— 24
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(1) CREATION OF TRUST FUND .—There is es-1
tablished in the Treasury of the United States a 2
trust fund to be known as the ‘‘Operation 3
Stonegarden Trust Fund’’ (referred to in this sec-4
tion as the ‘‘Trust Fund’’), consisting of amounts 5
transferred to the Trust Fund under paragraph (2). 6
(2) T
RANSFERS TO TRUST FUND .—The Sec-7
retary of the Treasury shall transfer to the Trust 8
Fund, from the general fund of the Treasury, for 9
fiscal year 2025 and each fiscal year thereafter until 10
2028, an amount equivalent to the amount received 11
into the general fund during that fiscal year attrib-12
utable to unreported monetary instruments seized by 13
U.S. Customs and Border Protection from individ-14
uals crossing the United States and Mexico border. 15
(3) U
SE OF TRUST FUND .—Amounts in the 16
Trust Fund shall be made available to the Secretary 17
of Homeland Security, without further appropria-18
tion, to fund the Operation Stonegarden grant pro-19
gram. 20
(4) L
IMITATION.—The Secretary may only ex-21
pend funds made available from the Trust Fund to 22
carry out the activity described in paragraph (3). 23
(5) M
ONETARY INSTRUMENT .— 24
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(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 1
subparagraph (B), a monetary instrument 2
means— 3
(i) coin or currency of the United 4
States or of any other country; 5
(ii) traveler’s checks in any form; 6
(iii) negotiable instruments, including 7
checks, promissory notes, and money or-8
ders in bearer form, endorsed without re-9
striction, made out to a fictitious payee, or 10
otherwise in such form that title thereto 11
passes upon delivery; 12
(iv) incomplete instruments, including 13
checks, promissory notes, and money or-14
ders that are signed but on which the 15
name of the payee has been omitted; and 16
(v) securities or stock in bearer form 17
or otherwise in such form that title thereto 18
passes upon delivery. 19
(B) E
XCEPTION.—A monetary instrument 20
referred to in subparagraph (A) does not in-21
clude— 22
(i) checks or money orders made pay-23
able to the order of a named person which 24
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have not been endorsed or which bear re-1
strictive endorsements; 2
(ii) warehouse receipts; or 3
(iii) bills of lading. 4
SEC. 4. FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION DESIGNA-5
TIONS. 6
(a) R
EPORT.— 7
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 8
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 9
shall submit to the appropriate congressional com-10
mittees a report on whether Mexican drug cartels 11
and criminal gangs meet the criteria for designation 12
as foreign terrorist organizations. 13
(2) M
EXICAN DRUG CARTELS DESCRIBED .—The 14
Mexican drug cartels and criminal gangs described 15
in this paragraph are each of the following: 16
(A) Jalisco New Generation Cartel. 17
(B) Sinaloa Cartel. 18
(C) Juarez Cartel. 19
(D) Tijuana Cartel. 20
(E) Gulf Cartel. 21
(F) Los Zetas. 22
(3) C
RIMINAL GANGS DESCRIBED .—The crimi-23
nal gangs described in this paragraph refer to the 24
Tren De Aragua. 25
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(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 1
(1) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -2
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-3
mittees’’ means— 4
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 5
the Committee on Homeland Security of the 6
House of Representatives; and 7
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 8
and the Committee on Homeland Security and 9
Governmental Affairs of the Senate. 10
(2) F
OREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION .—The 11
term ‘‘foreign terrorist organization’’ has the mean-12
ing given the term in section 219 of the Immigration 13
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189). 14
(3) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 15
the Secretary of State. 16
SEC. 5. SOUTHERN BORDER TECHNOLOGY NEEDS ANAL-17
YSIS AND UPDATES. 18
(a) T
ECHNOLOGYNEEDSANALYSIS.—Not later than 19
1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 20
Secretary shall submit, to the appropriate congressional 21
committees, a technology needs analysis for border secu-22
rity technology along the Southwest border. 23
(b) C
ONTENTS.—The analysis required under sub-24
section (a) shall include an assessment of— 25
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(1) the technology needs and gaps along the 1
Southwest border— 2
(A) to prevent terrorists and instruments 3
of terror from entering the United States; 4
(B) to combat and reduce cross-border 5
criminal activity, including, but not limited to— 6
(i) the transport of illegal goods, such 7
as illicit drugs; and 8
(ii) human smuggling and human 9
trafficking; and 10
(C) to facilitate the flow of legal trade 11
across the Southwest border; 12
(2) recent technological advancements in— 13
(A) manned aircraft sensor, communica-14
tion, and common operating picture technology; 15
(B) unmanned aerial systems and related 16
technology, including counter-unmanned aerial 17
system technology; 18
(C) surveillance technology, including— 19
(i) mobile surveillance vehicles; 20
(ii) associated electronics, including 21
cameras, sensor technology, and radar; 22
(iii) tower-based surveillance tech-23
nology; 24
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(iv) advanced unattended surveillance 1
sensors; and 2
(v) deployable, lighter-than-air, 3
ground surveillance equipment; 4
(D) nonintrusive inspection technology, in-5
cluding non-x ray devices utilizing muon tomog-6
raphy and other advanced detection technology; 7
(E) tunnel detection technology; and 8
(F) communications equipment, includ-9
ing— 10
(i) radios; 11
(ii) long-term evolution broadband; 12
and 13
(iii) miniature satellites; 14
(3) any other technological advancements that 15
the Secretary determines to be critical to the De-16
partment’s mission along the Southwest border; 17
(4) whether the use of the technological ad-18
vances described in paragraphs (2) and (3) will— 19
(A) improve border security; 20
(B) improve the capability of the Depart-21
ment to accomplish its mission along the South-22
west border; 23
(C) reduce technology gaps along the 24
Southwest border; and 25
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(D) enhance the safety of any officer or 1
agent of the Department or any other Federal 2
agency; 3
(5) the Department’s ongoing border security 4
technology development efforts, including efforts 5
by— 6
(A) U.S. Customs and Border Protection; 7
(B) the Science and Technology Direc-8
torate; and 9
(C) the technology assessment office of any 10
other operational component; 11
(6) the technology needs for improving border 12
security, such as— 13
(A) information technology or other com-14
puter or computing systems data capture; 15
(B) biometrics; 16
(C) cloud storage; and 17
(D) intelligence data sharing capabilities 18
among agencies within the Department; 19
(7) any other technological needs or factors, in-20
cluding border security infrastructure, such as phys-21
ical barriers or dual-purpose infrastructure, that the 22
Secretary determines should be considered; and 23
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(8) currently deployed technology or new tech-1
nology that would improve the Department’s abil-2
ity— 3
(A) to reasonably achieve operational con-4
trol and situational awareness along the South-5
west border; and 6
(B) to collect metrics for securing the bor-7
der at and between ports of entry, as required 8
under subsections (b) and (c) of section 1092 of 9
division A of the National Defense Authoriza-10
tion Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (6 U.S.C. 223). 11
(c) U
PDATES.— 12
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 13
the submission of the analysis required under sub-14
section (a), and biannually thereafter for the fol-15
lowing 4 years, the Secretary shall submit an update 16
to such analysis to the appropriate congressional 17
committees. 18
(2) C
ONTENTS.—Each update required under 19
paragraph (1) shall include a plan for utilizing the 20
resources of the Department to meet the border se-21
curity technology needs and gaps identified pursuant 22
to subsection (b), including developing or acquiring 23
technologies not currently in use by the Department 24
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that would allow the Department to bridge existing 1
border technology gaps along the Southwest border. 2
(d) I
TEMSTOBECONSIDERED.—In compiling the 3
technology needs analysis and updates required under this 4
section, the Secretary shall consider and examine— 5
(1) technology that is deployed and is sufficient 6
for the Department’s use along the Southwest bor-7
der; 8
(2) technology that is deployed, but is insuffi-9
cient for the Department’s use along the Southwest 10
border; 11
(3) technology that is not deployed, but is nec-12
essary for the Department’s use along the Southwest 13
border; 14
(4) current formal departmental requirements 15
documentation examining current border security 16
threats and challenges faced by any component of 17
the Department; 18
(5) trends and forecasts regarding migration 19
across the Southwest border; 20
(6) the impact on projected staffing and deploy-21
ment needs for the Department, including staffing 22
needs that may be fulfilled through the use of tech-23
nology; 24
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(7) the needs and challenges faced by employees 1
of the Department who are deployed along the 2
Southwest border; 3
(8) the need to improve cooperation among 4
Federal, State, Tribal, local, and Mexican law en-5
forcement entities to enhance security along the 6
Southwest border; 7
(9) the privacy implications of existing tech-8
nology and the acquisition and deployment of new 9
technologies and supporting infrastructure, with an 10
emphasis on how privacy risks might be mitigated 11
through the use of technology, training, and policy; 12
(10) the impact of any ongoing public health 13
emergency that impacts Department operations 14
along the Southwest border; and 15
(11) the ability of, and the needs for, the De-16
partment to assist with search and rescue efforts for 17
individuals or groups that may be in physical danger 18
or in need of medical assistance. 19
(e) F
ORM.—To the extent possible, the Secretary 20
shall submit the technology needs analysis and updates re-21
quired under this section in unclassified form, but may 22
submit such documents, or portions of such documents, 23
in classified form if the Secretary determines that such 24
action is appropriate. 25
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(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 1
(1) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -2
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-3
mittees’’ means— 4
(A) the Committee on Homeland Security 5
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and 6
(B) the Committee on Homeland Security 7
of the House of Representatives. 8
(2) D
EPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 9
means the Department of Homeland Security. 10
(3) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 11
the Secretary of Homeland Security. 12
(4) S
OUTHWEST BORDER .—The term ‘‘South-13
west border’’ means the international land border 14
between the United States and Mexico, including the 15
ports of entry along such border. 16
SEC. 6. REPORT RELATING TO HIRING PRACTICES OF THE 17
DEPARTMENT FROM 2018 TO 2024. 18
Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment 19
of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate 20
congressional committees a report relating the hiring prac-21
tices of the Department that includes— 22
(1) information relating to the recruitment 23
practices of the Department from 2018 to 2024; and 24
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(2) recommendations with respect to improving 1
the operational capacity of the Department work-2
force. 3
Æ
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