II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 150
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY17, 2025
Mr. K
ELLY(for himself, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. TILLIS, and Mr. GALLEGO) in-
troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com-
mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
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
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Combating Cartels on 4
Social Media Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1
In this Act: 2
(1) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -3
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-4
mittees’’ means— 5
(A) the Committee on Homeland Security 6
and Governmental Affairs, the Committee on 7
the Judiciary, and the Committee on Foreign 8
Relations of the Senate; and 9
(B) the Committee on Homeland Security, 10
the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Com-11
mittee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep-12
resentatives. 13
(2) C
OVERED OPERATOR .—The term ‘‘covered 14
operator’’ means the operator, developer, or pub-15
lisher of a covered service. 16
(3) C
OVERED SERVICE.—The term ‘‘covered 17
service’’ means— 18
(A) a social media platform; 19
(B) a mobile or desktop service with direct 20
or group messaging capabilities, but not includ-21
ing text messaging services without other sub-22
stantial social functionalities or electronic mail 23
services, that the Secretary of Homeland Secu-24
rity determines is being or has been used by 25
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transnational criminal organizations in connec-1
tion with matters described in section 3; or 2
(C) a digital platform, or an electronic ap-3
plication utilizing the digital platform, involving 4
real-time interactive communication between 5
multiple individuals, including multi-player 6
gaming services and immersive technology plat-7
forms or applications, that the Secretary of 8
Homeland Security determines is being or has 9
been used by transnational criminal organiza-10
tions in connection with matters described in 11
section 3. 12
(4) C
RIMINAL ENTERPRISE.—The term ‘‘crimi-13
nal enterprise’’ has the meaning given the term 14
‘‘continuing criminal enterprise’’ in section 408 of 15
the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 848). 16
(5) I
LLICIT ACTIVITIES.—The term ‘‘illicit ac-17
tivities’’ means the following criminal activities that 18
transcend national borders: 19
(A) A violation of section 401 of the Con-20
trolled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 841). 21
(B) Narcotics trafficking, as defined in 22
section 808 of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin 23
Designation Act (21 U.S.C. 1907). 24
(C) Weapons trafficking. 25
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(D) Migrant smuggling, defined as a viola-1
tion of section 274(a)(1)(A)(ii) of the Immigra-2
tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 3
1324(a)(1)(A)(ii)). 4
(E) Human trafficking, defined as— 5
(i) a violation of section 1590, 1591, 6
or 1592 of title 18, United States Code; or 7
(ii) engaging in severe forms of traf-8
ficking in persons, as defined in section 9
103 of the Victims of Trafficking and Vio-10
lence Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 11
7102). 12
(F) Cyber crime, defined as a violation of 13
section 1030 of title 18, United States Code. 14
(G) A violation of any provision that is 15
subject to intellectual property enforcement, as 16
defined in section 302 of the Prioritizing Re-17
sources and Organization for Intellectual Prop-18
erty Act of 2008 (15 U.S.C. 8112). 19
(H) Bulk cash smuggling of currency, de-20
fined as a violation of section 5332 of title 31, 21
United States Code. 22
(I) Laundering the proceeds of the crimi-23
nal activities described in subparagraphs (A) 24
through (H). 25
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(6) TRANSNATIONAL CRIMINAL ORGANIZA -1
TION.—The term ‘‘transnational criminal organiza-2
tion’’ means a group, or network, and associated in-3
dividuals, that operate transnationally for the pur-4
poses of obtaining power, influence, or monetary or 5
commercial gain, wholly or in part by certain unlaw-6
ful means, while advancing their activities through a 7
pattern of crime, corruption, or violence, and while 8
protecting their unlawful activities through a 9
transnational organizational structure and the ex-10
ploitation of public corruption or transnational logis-11
tics, financial, or communication mechanisms. 12
SEC. 3. ASSESSMENT OF ILLICIT USAGE. 13
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 14
of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the At-15
torney General, and the Secretary of State shall submit 16
to the appropriate congressional committees a joint assess-17
ment describing— 18
(1) the use of covered services by transnational 19
criminal organizations, or criminal enterprises acting 20
on behalf of transnational criminal organizations, to 21
engage in recruitment efforts, including the recruit-22
ment of individuals located in the United States, to 23
engage in or provide support with respect to illicit 24
activities occurring in the United States, Mexico, or 25
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otherwise in proximity to an international border of 1
the United States; 2
(2) the use of covered services by transnational 3
criminal organizations, or criminal enterprises acting 4
on behalf of transnational criminal organizations, to 5
engage in illicit activities or conduct in support of il-6
licit activities, including— 7
(A) smuggling or trafficking involving nar-8
cotics, other controlled substances, precursors 9
thereof, or other items prohibited under the 10
laws of the United States, Mexico, or another 11
relevant jurisdiction, including firearms; 12
(B) human smuggling or trafficking, with 13
a particular focus on the exploitation of chil-14
dren; and 15
(C) transportation of bulk currency or 16
monetary instruments in furtherance of smug-17
gling or trafficking; and 18
(3) the existing efforts of the Secretary of 19
Homeland Security, the Attorney General, the Sec-20
retary of State, and relevant government and law 21
enforcement entities to counter, monitor, or other-22
wise respond to the usage of covered services de-23
scribed in paragraphs (1) and (2). 24
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SEC. 4. STRATEGY TO COMBAT CARTEL RECRUITMENT ON 1
SOCIAL MEDIA AND ONLINE PLATFORMS. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 3
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland 4
Security, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of State 5
shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 6
a joint strategy, to be known as the ‘‘National Strategy 7
to Combat Illicit Recruitment Activity by Transnational 8
Criminal Organizations on Social Media and Online Plat-9
forms’’, to combat the use of covered services by 10
transnational criminal organizations, or criminal enter-11
prises acting on behalf of transnational criminal organiza-12
tions, to recruit individuals located in the United States 13
to engage in or provide support for unlawful activities oc-14
curring in the United States, Mexico, or otherwise in prox-15
imity to an international border of the United States. 16
(b) E
LEMENTS.— 17
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The strategy required under 18
subsection (a) shall, at a minimum, include the fol-19
lowing: 20
(A) A proposal to improve cooperation be-21
tween the Secretary of Homeland Security, the 22
Attorney General, the Secretary of State, and 23
relevant law enforcement entities. 24
(B) Recommendations to implement a 25
process for the voluntary reporting of informa-26
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tion regarding the recruitment efforts of 1
transnational criminal organizations, or crimi-2
nal enterprises acting on behalf of transnational 3
criminal organizations, in the United States in-4
volving covered services. 5
(C) A proposal to improve 6
intragovernmental coordination with respect to 7
the matters described in subsection (a), includ-8
ing between the Department of Homeland Secu-9
rity, the Department of Justice, the Depart-10
ment of State, and State, Tribal, and local gov-11
ernments. 12
(D) A proposal to improve coordination 13
within the Department of Homeland Security, 14
the Department of Justice, and the Department 15
of State and between the components of those 16
Departments with respect to the matters de-17
scribed in subsection (a). 18
(E) Activities to facilitate increased intel-19
ligence analysis for law enforcement purposes of 20
efforts of transnational criminal organizations, 21
or criminal enterprises acting on behalf of 22
transnational criminal organizations, to utilize 23
covered services for recruitment to engage in or 24
provide support with respect to illicit activities. 25
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(F) Activities to foster international part-1
nerships and enhance collaboration with foreign 2
governments and, as applicable, multilateral in-3
stitutions, with respect to the matters described 4
in subsection (a). 5
(G) Activities to specifically increase en-6
gagement and outreach with youth in border 7
communities, including regarding the recruit-8
ment tactics of transnational criminal organiza-9
tions, or criminal enterprises acting on behalf of 10
transnational criminal organizations, and the 11
consequences of participation in illicit activities. 12
(H) A detailed description of the measures 13
used to ensure— 14
(i) law enforcement and intelligence 15
activities focus on the recruitment activi-16
ties of transitional criminal organizations, 17
or criminal enterprises acting on behalf of 18
transnational criminal organizations, rath-19
er than individuals the transnational crimi-20
nal organizations or enterprises attempt to 21
or successfully recruit; and 22
(ii) the protection of privacy rights, 23
civil rights, and civil liberties in carrying 24
out the activities described in clause (i), 25
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with a particular focus on the protections 1
in place to protect minors and constitu-2
tionally protected activities. 3
(2) L
IMITATION.—The strategy required under 4
subsection (a) shall not include legislative rec-5
ommendations or elements predicated on the passage 6
of legislation that is not enacted as of the date on 7
which the strategy is submitted under subsection 8
(a). 9
(c) C
ONSULTATION.—In drafting and implementing 10
the strategy required under subsection (a), the Secretary 11
of Homeland Security, the Attorney General, and the Sec-12
retary of State shall, at a minimum, consult and engage 13
with— 14
(1) the heads of relevant components of the De-15
partment of Homeland Security, including— 16
(A) the Under Secretary for Intelligence 17
and Analysis; 18
(B) the Under Secretary for Strategy, Pol-19
icy, and Plans; 20
(C) the Under Secretary for Science and 21
Technology; 22
(D) the Commissioner of U.S. Customs 23
and Border Protection; 24
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(E) the Director of U.S. Immigration and 1
Customs Enforcement; 2
(F) the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil 3
Liberties; 4
(G) the Privacy Officer; and 5
(H) the Assistant Secretary of the Office 6
for State and Local Law Enforcement; 7
(2) the heads of relevant components of the De-8
partment of Justice, including— 9
(A) the Assistant Attorney General for the 10
Criminal Division; 11
(B) the Assistant Attorney General for Na-12
tional Security; 13
(C) the Assistant Attorney General for the 14
Civil Rights Division; 15
(D) the Chief Privacy and Civil Liberties 16
Officer; 17
(E) the Director of the Organized Crime 18
Drug Enforcement Task Forces; 19
(F) the Director of the Federal Bureau of 20
Investigation; and 21
(G) the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, 22
Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; 23
(3) the heads of relevant components of the De-24
partment of State, including— 25
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(A) the Assistant Secretary for Inter-1
national Narcotics and Law Enforcement Af-2
fairs; 3
(B) the Assistant Secretary for Western 4
Hemisphere Affairs; and 5
(C) the Coordinator of the Global Engage-6
ment Center; 7
(4) the Secretary of Health and Human Serv-8
ices; 9
(5) the Secretary of Education; and 10
(6) as selected by the Secretary of Homeland 11
Security, or his or her designee in the Office of Pub-12
lic Engagement, representatives of border commu-13
nities, including representatives of— 14
(A) State, Tribal, and local governments, 15
including school districts and local law enforce-16
ment; and 17
(B) nongovernmental experts in the fields 18
of— 19
(i) civil rights and civil liberties; 20
(ii) online privacy; 21
(iii) humanitarian assistance for mi-22
grants; and 23
(iv) youth outreach and rehabilitation. 24
(d) I
MPLEMENTATION.— 25
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 1
the date on which the strategy required under sub-2
section (a) is submitted to the appropriate congres-3
sional committees, the Secretary of Homeland Secu-4
rity, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of 5
State shall commence implementation of the strat-6
egy. 7
(2) R
EPORT.— 8
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 9
days after the date on which the strategy re-10
quired under subsection (a) is implemented 11
under paragraph (1), and semiannually there-12
after for 5 years, the Secretary of Homeland 13
Security, the Attorney General, and the Sec-14
retary of State shall submit to the appropriate 15
congressional committees a joint report describ-16
ing the efforts of the Secretary of Homeland 17
Security, the Attorney General, and the Sec-18
retary of State, respectively, to implement the 19
strategy required under subsection (a) and the 20
progress of those efforts, which shall include a 21
description of— 22
(i) the recommendations, and cor-23
responding implementation of those rec-24
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ommendations, with respect to the matters 1
described in subsection (b)(1)(B); 2
(ii) the interagency posture with re-3
spect to the matters covered by the strat-4
egy required under subsection (a), which 5
shall include a description of collaboration 6
between the Secretary of Homeland Secu-7
rity, the Attorney General, the Secretary of 8
State, other Federal entities, State, local, 9
and Tribal entities, foreign governments, 10
and, as applicable, multilateral institutions; 11
and 12
(iii) the threat landscape, including 13
new developments related to the recruit-14
ment efforts of transnational criminal or-15
ganizations, or criminal enterprises acting 16
on behalf of transnational criminal organi-17
zations, and the use by such organizations 18
or enterprises of new or emergent covered 19
services and recruitment methods. 20
(B) F
ORM.—Each report required under 21
subparagraph (A) shall be submitted in unclas-22
sified form, but may contain a classified annex. 23
(3) C
IVIL RIGHTS, CIVIL LIBERTIES, AND PRI-24
VACY ASSESSMENT.—Not later than 2 years after 25
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the date on which the strategy required under sub-1
section (a) is implemented under paragraph (1), the 2
Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the 3
Privacy Office of the Department of Homeland Se-4
curity, in consultation with the Assistant Attorney 5
General for the Civil Rights Division and the Chief 6
Privacy and Civil Liberties Officer of the Depart-7
ment of Justice, shall submit to the appropriate con-8
gressional committees a joint report that includes— 9
(A) a detailed assessment of the measures 10
used to ensure the protection of civil rights, 11
civil liberties, and privacy rights in carrying out 12
this section; and 13
(B) recommendations to improve the im-14
plementation of the strategy required under 15
subsection (a). 16
(4) R
ULEMAKING.—Prior to implementation of 17
the strategy required under subsection (a) at the 18
Department of Homeland Security, the Secretary of 19
Homeland Security shall issue rules to carry out this 20
section in accordance with section 553 of title 5, 21
United States Code. 22
SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 23
Nothing in this Act may be construed to expand the 24
statutory law enforcement or regulatory authority of the 25
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Department of Homeland Security, the Department of 1
Justice, or the Department of State. 2
SEC. 6. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS. 3
No additional funds are authorized to be appro-4
priated for the purpose of carrying out this Act. 5
Æ
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