II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1184
To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to negotiate with the Govern-
ment of Canada regarding an agreement for integrated cross border
aerial law enforcement operations, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH27, 2025
Ms. H
ASSAN(for herself and Mr. LANKFORD) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Secu-
rity and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to negotiate
with the Government of Canada regarding an agreement
for integrated cross border aerial law enforcement oper-
ations, 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 ‘‘Cross Border Aerial 4
Law Enforcement Operations Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. INTEGRATED CROSS BORDER AERIAL LAW EN-1
FORCEMENT OPERATIONS PROGRAM. 2
(a) A
UTHORIZATION.—If authorized pursuant to a bi-3
lateral agreement between the United States Government 4
and the Government of Canada, the Secretary of Home-5
land Security may establish an integrated cross border 6
aerial law enforcement program (referred to in this section 7
as the ‘‘Program’’) along the international border between 8
the United States and Canada, which may be modeled off 9
the Framework Agreement on Integrated Cross-Border 10
Maritime Law Enforcement Operations Between the Gov-11
ernment of the United States of America and the Govern-12
ment of Canada, done at Detroit May 26, 2009. 13
(b) P
ROGRAMELEMENTS.— 14
(1) P
ARTICIPANTS.—The Program may be 15
staffed by approved law enforcement officers from— 16
(A) U.S. Customs and Border Protection; 17
(B) the United States Coast Guard; 18
(C) Homeland Security Investigations; 19
(D) any other Federal law enforcement 20
agency, as appropriate, designated by the Sec-21
retary of Homeland Security; and 22
(E) appropriate law enforcement agencies 23
of the Government of Canada. 24
(2) S
COPE.—The jurisdiction of the Program 25
shall be limited to the territory located within 50 26
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miles of either side of the international border be-1
tween the United States and Canada unless— 2
(A) a situation within such territory re-3
quires an aircraft to leave from or return to an 4
airport, heliport, or base of operations located 5
outside such territory; or 6
(B) there are exigent circumstances relat-7
ing to authorized Program activities, as defined 8
in the underlying bilateral agreement, including 9
an emergency on an aircraft or an emergency 10
on the ground. 11
(3) C
IVIL RIGHTS.—The Program shall ensure 12
that the civil rights, civil liberties, and privacy of all 13
individuals within the jurisdiction of the United 14
States are guaranteed in accordance with Federal 15
law. 16
(4) N
OTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS .— 17
(A) B
ILATERAL AGREEMENT .—Not later 18
than 30 days after receiving a copy of a bilat-19
eral agreement described in subsection (a), the 20
Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a 21
signed copy of such agreement to the Com-22
mittee on Homeland Security and Govern-23
mental Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on 24
Foreign Relations of the Senate, the Committee 25
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on Homeland Security of the House of Rep-1
resentatives, and the Committee on Foreign Af-2
fairs of the House of Representatives. 3
(B) P
ROGRAM ELEMENTS AND SCOPE .— 4
Not later than 30 days after the implementa-5
tion of the Program, the Secretary of Homeland 6
Security shall submit a written description of 7
the elements and scope of the Program to the 8
congressional committees listed under subpara-9
graph (A). 10
(5) P
RIVACY, CIVIL RIGHTS, AND CIVIL LIB-11
ERTIES TRAINING.— 12
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Any agreement de-13
scribed in subsection (a) shall include specific 14
provisions that— 15
(i) are intended to protect the privacy 16
and civil liberties of United States citizens; 17
and 18
(ii) ensure that cross border aerial law 19
enforcement operations are conducted in a 20
manner that— 21
(I) respects individual rights; and 22
(II) complies with applicable 23
United States laws. 24
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(B) TRAINING.—Any officer of the United 1
States or of Canada, before participating in the 2
Program, shall complete sufficient training to 3
ensure they understand their responsibilities to 4
protect the privacy, civil liberties, and civil 5
rights of United States citizens. 6
(c) C
OMMUNICATIONS.—Each of the agencies re-7
ferred to in subsection (b)(1) are authorized to establish 8
necessary communication protocols for the safety of cross 9
border aerial law enforcement operations. 10
(d) F
AILURETOFINALIZEPROGRAMREPORT.—If 11
the Program is not established on or before the date that 12
is 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, 13
the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a report 14
to the congressional committees referred to in subsection 15
(b)(4)(A) that includes— 16
(1) a description of any unresolved issues that 17
are preventing the establishment of the Program; 18
(2) any actions that Congress could take to fa-19
cilitate the establishment of such Program; 20
(3) any potential concerns relating to civil 21
rights, civil liberties, or privacy that have impacted 22
the establishment of the Program; and 23
(4) a recommendation regarding whether— 24
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(A) the Secretary should continue trying to 1
establish such Program; or 2
(B) such Program is not needed. 3
SEC. 3. UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEM REPORT. 4
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 5
of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall sub-6
mit an unclassified report, with a classified annex, if nec-7
essary, to the congressional committees referred to in sec-8
tion 2(b)(4)(A) that describes the use of unmanned air-9
craft systems (referred to in this section as ‘‘UAS’’) along 10
the northern international border of the United States, in-11
cluding— 12
(1) interagency coordination to mitigate incur-13
sions from unauthorized UAS; 14
(2) any jurisdictional issues that would prevent 15
the mitigation of unauthorized UAS; 16
(3) the use of UAS by malign actors— 17
(A) to collect intelligence or surveil law en-18
forcement operations; 19
(B) to move contraband, persons, or pay-20
loads across the international border; or 21
(C) to conduct espionage; 22
(4) an assessment of the feasibility for joint, 23
cross-border law enforcement operations involving 24
UAS or counter-unmanned aircraft systems; and 25
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(5) the potential risks to civil rights, civil lib-1
erties, and privacy resulting from the Department of 2
Homeland Security operating UAS and counter-un-3
manned aircraft systems along the northern border 4
of the United States. 5
SEC. 4. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS. 6
No additional funds are authorized to be appro-7
priated for the purpose of carrying out this Act. 8
Æ
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