II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 41
To establish Joint Operations Centers along the southern border of the
United States, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY9, 2025
Ms. C
ORTEZMASTO(for herself and Mrs. BLACKBURN) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
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. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
(1) C
ENTERS.—The term ‘‘Centers’’ means the 8
Joint Operations Centers established under section 9
3(a). 10
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(2) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 1
means the Department of Homeland Security. 2
(3) P
ARTICIPATING FEDERAL AGENCY .—The 3
term ‘‘participating Federal agency’’ means— 4
(A) the Department; 5
(B) the Department of Defense; 6
(C) the Department of Justice; and 7
(D) any other Federal agency as the Sec-8
retary determines appropriate. 9
(4) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 10
the Secretary of Homeland Security. 11
(5) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each 12
State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 13
and any territory or possession of the United States. 14
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF JOINT OPERATIONS CENTERS. 15
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 16
date of enactment of this Act, the Department shall estab-17
lish not less than 2 Joint Operations Centers along the 18
southern border of the United States to provide unified 19
coordination centers, where law enforcement from multiple 20
Federal, State, local, and Tribal agencies can collaborate 21
in accordance with the purposes described in subsection 22
(b). 23
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(b) MATTERSCOVERED.—The Centers shall provide 1
centralized operations hubs for matters related to the fol-2
lowing: 3
(1) Implementing coordination and communica-4
tion for field operations between participating Fed-5
eral, State, local, and Tribal agencies, as needed. 6
(2) Coordinating operations across participating 7
Federal, State, local, and Tribal agencies, as needed, 8
including ground, air, and sea or amphibious oper-9
ations. 10
(3) Coordinating and supporting border oper-11
ations, including deterring and detecting criminal ac-12
tivity related to— 13
(A) transnational criminal organizations; 14
(B) illegal border crossings; 15
(C) the seizure of weapons; 16
(D) the seizure of drugs; 17
(E) the seizure of high valued property; 18
(F) terrorism; 19
(G) human trafficking; 20
(H) drug trafficking; and 21
(I) such additional matters as the Sec-22
retary considers appropriate. 23
(c) I
NFORMATION SHARING.—To ensure effective 24
transmission of information between participating Fed-25
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eral, State, local, and Tribal agencies, for purposes of sub-1
section (b), coordination and communication shall in-2
clude— 3
(1) Federal agencies sharing pertinent informa-4
tion with participating State, local, and Tribal agen-5
cies through the Centers; and 6
(2) Federal agencies notifying participating 7
State, local, and Tribal agencies of operations occur-8
ring within the jurisdictions of those agencies. 9
(d) W
ORKFORCE CAPABILITIES.—The Centers 10
shall— 11
(1) track and coordinate deployment of partici-12
pating personnel; and 13
(2) coordinate training, as needed. 14
SEC. 4. REPORT. 15
Not later than 1 year after enactment of this Act, 16
and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall consult with 17
participating Federal agencies, and shall seek feedback 18
from participating State, local, and Tribal agencies, to re-19
port to Congress— 20
(1) a description of the efforts undertaken to 21
establish the Centers; 22
(2) an identification of the resources used for 23
the operations of the Centers; 24
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(3) a description of the key operations coordi-1
nated and supported by each Center; 2
(4) a description of any significant interoper-3
ability and communication gaps identified between 4
participating Federal, State, local, and Tribal agen-5
cies within each Center; 6
(5) recommendations for improved coordination 7
and communication between participating Federal 8
agencies in developing and operating current and fu-9
ture Centers; and 10
(6) other data as the Secretary determines ap-11
propriate. 12
Æ
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