I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2672

To direct the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security 

to establish a program to enhance the mutual security and safety of 

the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 26, 2005

Ms. HARRIS (for herself, Mr. PEARCE, and Mr. SHAYS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations, and in addition to the Committees on Armed Services and Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 

in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL

To direct the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a program to enhance the 

mutual security and safety of the United States, Canada, 

and Mexico, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘North American Coop5 erative Security Act’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. PURPOSE OF NORTH AMERICAN SECURITY INITIA2 TIVE. 

3 The Secretary of State shall enhance the mutual se4 curity and safety of the United States, Canada, and Mex5 ico by providing a framework for better management, com6 munication, and coordination between the governments of 

7 such countries. 

8 SEC. 3. IMPROVING THE EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION ON 

9 NORTH AMERICAN SECURITY. 

10 (a) REPORT.—Not later than six months after the 

11 date of enactment of this Act, and every six months there12 after, the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Sec13 retary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of De14 fense, shall submit to the appropriate congressional com15 mittees listed under subsection (b) a joint report described 

16 under subsection (c) that contains a description of the ef17 forts to carry out this Act. 

18 (b) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.—

19 The appropriate congressional committees referred to in 

20 subsection (a) are the following: 

21 (1) The Committee on International Relations 

22 of the House of Representatives. 

23 (2) The Committee on Foreign Relations of the 

24 Senate. 

25 (3) The Committee on Homeland Security of 

26 the House of Representatives. 
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1 (4) The Committee on Homeland Security and 

2 Governmental Affairs of the Senate. 

3 (5) The Committee on Armed Services of the 

4 House of Representatives. 

5 (6) The Committee on Armed Services of the 

6 Senate. 

7 (c) CONTENTS.—A report submitted under sub8 section (a) shall contain a description of each of the fol9 lowing: 

10 (1) SECURITY AND THE MOVEMENT OF

11 GOODS.—The progress of the development and ex12 pansion of public-private partnerships to secure the 

13 supply chain of goods coming into North America 

14 and to expedite the movement of low-risk goods, in15 cluding the status of—

16 (A) the Fast and Secure Trade program 

17 (referred to in this subsection as ‘‘FAST pro18 gram’’) at major international border crossings 

19 between the United States and Canada, and the 

20 progress made in implementing the FAST pro21 gram at all remaining international commercial 

22 border crossings between the United States and 

23 Canada, Mexico; 

24 (B) marketing programs by the Depart25 ment of State and the Department of Home-
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1 land Security to promote enrollment by eligible 

2 individuals and companies in the FAST pro3 gram; 

4 (C) ways and means of increasing partici5 pation in the FAST program; and 

6 (D) the implementation of the FAST pro7 gram at international border crossings between 

8 the United States and Mexico. 

9 (2) CARGO SECURITY AND MOVEMENT OF

10 GOODS.—The progress made in developing and im11 plementing a North American cargo security strat12 egy that creates a common security perimeter 

13 around the United States, Canada, and Mexico by 

14 enhancing technical assistance for programs and sys15 tems to support advance reporting and risk manage16 ment of cargo data, improved integrity measures 

17 through automated collection of fees, and advance 

18 technology to rapidly screen cargo. 

19 (3) BORDER WAIT TIMES.—The progress made 

20 by the Secretary of State and Secretary of Home21 land Security, in consultation with national, provin22 cial, and municipal governments, to—

23 (A) reduce waiting times at international 

24 border crossings through low-risk land ports of 

25 entry facilitating programs, including the status 
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1 of the Secure Electronic Network for Travelers 

2 Rapid Inspection program (referred to in this 

3 section as the ‘‘SENTRI program’’) and the 

4 NEXUS program—

5 (B) measure and report wait times for 

6 commercial and non-commercial traffic at the 

7 land ports of the United States, Canada, and 

8 Mexico, and establish compatible performance 

9 standards for operating under normal security 

10 alert conditions; and 

11 (C) identify, develop, and deploy new tech12 nologies to—

13 (i) further advance the shared security 

14 goals of the United States, Canada, and 

15 Mexico; and 

16 (ii) promote the legitimate flow of 

17 both people and goods across these inter18 national borders. 

19 (4) BORDER INFRASTRUCTURE.—Efforts to 

20 pursue joint investments in and protection of border 

21 infrastructure, including—

22 (A) priority ports of entry; 

23 (B) plans to expand dedicated lanes and 

24 approaches and improve border infrastructure 
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1 in order to meet the objectives of the FAST 

2 program; 

3 (C) the development of a strategic plan for 

4 expanding the number of dedicated FAST pro5 gram lanes at major crossings at the inter6 national border between the United States and 

7 Mexico; and 

8 (D) an inventory of border transportation 

9 infrastructure at major transportation corridors 

10 between the United States and Canada and the 

11 United States and Mexico. 

12 (5) SECURITY CLEARANCES AND DOCUMENT IN13 TEGRITY.—The development of enrollment, security, 

14 technical, and biometric standards for the issuance, 

15 authentication, and validation of secure documents, 

16 including—

17 (A) technical and biometric standards 

18 based on best practices and consistent with 

19 international standards for the issuance, au20 thentication, and validation of travel docu21 ments, including—

22 (i) passports; 

23 (ii) visas; and 

24 (iii) permanent resident cards; 
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1 (B) working with Canada and Mexico to 

2 encourage foreign countries to enact laws con3 trolling alien smuggling and trafficking, the use 

4 and manufacture of fraudulent travel docu5 ments, and information sharing; 

6 (C) applying incentives and support to en7 sure that other countries meet proper travel 

8 document standards and are equally committed 

9 to travel document verification before transit to 

10 other countries, including the United States; 

11 and 

12 (D) providing technical assistance to Can13 ada and Mexico for the development and main14 tenance of a national database built upon iden15 tified best practices for biometric standards as16 sociated with visa and travel documents. 

17 (6) IMMIGRATION AND VISA MANAGEMENT.—

18 The progress on efforts to share information con19 cerning high-risk individuals who might attempt to 

20 travel to the United States, Canada, or Mexico, in21 cluding—

22 (A) immigration lookout data on high risk 

23 individuals through the implementation of the 

24 Statement of Mutual Understanding on Infor-
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1 mation Sharing, that was signed by the United 

2 States and Canada in February 2003; and 

3 (B) immigration fraud trends and analysis, 

4 including asylum and document fraud. 

5 (7) VISA POLICY COORDINATION AND IMMIGRA6 TION SECURITY.—The progress made by the United 

7 States, Canada, and Mexico to enhance North Amer8 ican security by cooperating on visa policies and 

9 identifying best practices regarding immigration se10 curity, including—

11 (A) enhancing consultation among visa 

12 issuing officials at consulates or embassies of 

13 the United States, Canada, and Mexico 

14 throughout the world to share information, 

15 trends, and best practices on visa flows; 

16 (B) comparing the procedures and policies 

17 of the United States and Canada with respect 

18 to visitor visa processing, including—

19 (i) application processes; 

20 (ii) interview policies; 

21 (iii) general screening procedures; 

22 (iv) visa validities; 

23 (v) quality control measures; and 

24 (vi) access to appeal or review of such 

25 procedures and policies; 
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1 (C) converging the list of visa waiver coun2 tries; 

3 (D) providing technical assistance for the 

4 development and maintenance of a national 

5 database built upon identified best practices for 

6 biometric standards associated with immigra7 tion violators; 

8 (E) developing and implementing a North 

9 American immigration security strategy that 

10 works toward the development of a common se11 curity perimeter by enhancing technical assist12 ance for programs and systems to support ad13 vance automated reporting and risk targeting of 

14 international passengers; 

15 (F) the progress made toward sharing in16 formation concerning lost and stolen passports 

17 on a real-time basis among immigration or law 

18 enforcement officials of the United States, Can19 ada, and Mexico; and 

20 (G) the progress made by the Department 

21 of State in collecting ten fingerprints from all 

22 visa applicants. 

23 (8) NORTH AMERICAN VISITOR OVERSTAY PRO24 GRAM.—The progress made to implement parallel 
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1 entry and exit tracking systems between the United 

2 States and Canada—

3 (A) to share information on third country 

4 nationals who have overstayed in either country; 

5 and 

6 (B) that respect the privacy laws of each 

7 such country. 

8 (9) TERRORIST WATCH LISTS.—The progress 

9 made to enhance the capacity of the United States 

10 to combat terrorism through the coordination of 

11 counterterrorism efforts, including—

12 (A) establishing bilateral agreements be13 tween the United States and Canada and be14 tween the United States and Mexico to govern 

15 the sharing of terrorist watch list data and to 

16 comprehensively enumerate the uses of such 

17 data by the United States, Canada, and Mexico; 

18 (B) establishing appropriate linkages be19 tween the United States Terrorist Screening 

20 Center and both Canada and Mexico; and 

21 (C) working to explore and negotiate with 

22 foreign governments concerning the establish23 ment of a multilateral watch list mechanism 

24 that would facilitate direct coordination between 

25 a country that identifies an individual as an in-
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1 dividual included on a watch list, and a country 

2 that owns such list, including procedures that 

3 satisfy the security concerns and are consistent 

4 with the privacy and other laws of each partici5 pating country. 

6 (10) MONEY LAUNDERING, INCOME TAX EVA7 SION, CURRENCY SMUGGLING, AND ALIEN SMUG8 GLING.—The progress made to improve information 

9 sharing and law enforcement cooperation in orga10 nized crime, including—

11 (A) in areas of currency smuggling, money 

12 laundering, alien smuggling and trafficking in 

13 alcohol, firearms, and explosives; 

14 (B) implementing the Canada-United 

15 States Firearms Trafficking Action Plan; 

16 (C) the feasibility of formulating a fire17 arms trafficking action plan between the United 

18 States and Mexico; 

19 (D) developing a joint threat assessment 

20 on organized crime between the United States 

21 and Canada; 

22 (E) the feasibility of formulating a joint 

23 threat assessment on organized crime between 

24 the United States and Mexico; 
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1 (F) developing mechanisms to exchange in2 formation on findings, seizures, and captures of 

3 individuals transporting undeclared currency; 

4 and 

5 (G) developing and implementing a plan to 

6 combat the transnational threat of illegal drug 

7 trafficking. 

8 (11) COUNTERTERRORISM PROGRAMS.—En9 hancements to counterterrorism coordination, includ10 ing—

11 (A) reviewing existing counterterrorism ef12 forts and coordination between United States, 

13 Canada, and Mexico to maximize effectiveness; 

14 and 

15 (B) identifying best practices regarding the 

16 sharing of information and intelligence with 

17 United States, Canada, and Mexico. 

18 (12) LAW ENFORCEMENT COOPERATION.—The 

19 enhancement of law enforcement cooperation be20 tween United States, Canada, and Mexico through 

21 enhanced technical assistance for the development 

22 and maintenance of a national database built upon 

23 identified best practices for biometric standards as24 sociated with known or suspected criminals or ter25 rorists, including—
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1 (A) exploring the formation of law enforce2 ment teams that include personnel from the 

3 United States and Mexico, and appropriate pro4 cedures from such teams; and 

5 (B) assessing the threat and risk of the 

6 use of the St. Lawrence Seaway System, the 

7 Great Lakes, and the Gulf of Mexico by known 

8 or suspected criminals or terrorists and devel9 oping appropriate marine enforcement pro10 grams based on the integrated border team 

11 framework. 

12 (13) BIOSECURITY COOPERATION.—The 

13 progress made to increase and promote cooperation 

14 between United States, Canada, and Mexico in the 

15 analysis and assessments of intentional threats to 

16 biosecurity, naturally occurring threats to biosecu17 rity, and the prevention and response capacity of the 

18 United States to respond to such threats, includ19 ing—

20 (A) mapping relationships among key reg21 ulatory and border officials to ensure effective 

22 cooperation in planning and responding to a 

23 biosecurity threat; and 

24 (B) working jointly with Mexico and Can25 ada in support of the Public Health Security 
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1 and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response 

2 Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–188; 116 Stat. 

3 594) to develop a regime that employs a risk 

4 management approach to the movement of 

5 foods and food products in the United States, 

6 Canada, and Mexico and across the borders of 

7 such countries, and which builds upon and har8 monizes with customs processes. 

9 (14) PROTECTION AGAINST NUCLEAR AND RA10 DIOLOGICAL THREATS.—The progress made to in11 crease cooperation between the United States, Can12 ada, and Mexico to prevent nuclear and radiological 

13 smuggling, including—

14 (A) identifying opportunities to increase 

15 cooperation to prevent smuggling of nuclear or 

16 radioactive materials, including improving ex17 port controls for all materials identified on the 

18 high-risk sources list maintained by the Inter19 national Atomic Energy Agency; 

20 (B) working collectively with other coun21 tries to install radiation detection equipment at 

22 foreign land crossings to examine cargo des23 tined for the United States, Canada, or Mexico; 
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1 (C) enhancing border controls through ef2 fective technical cooperation and other forms of 

3 cooperation to—

4 (i) prevent the smuggling of radio5 logical materials; and 

6 (ii) examine related next-generation 

7 equipment; 

8 (D) enhancing physical protection of nu9 clear facilities in the United States, Canada, 

10 and Mexico through effective technical and 

11 other forms of cooperation; and 

12 (E) developing a program for physical pro13 tection for nuclear installations in Mexico that 

14 increases the level of the nuclear security cul15 ture of those individuals responsible for the 

16 physical protection of nuclear installations and 

17 the transport of nuclear material. 

18 (15) EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COOPERA19 TION.—The progress made regarding the appro20 priate coordination of systems between the United 

21 States, Canada, and Mexico for planning and oper22 ational standards for emergency management, in23 cluding the development of an interoperable commu24 nications system or the appropriate coordination of 
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1 existing systems for such countries for cross-border 

2 incident management. 

3 (16) COOPERATIVE ENERGY POLICY.—The 

4 progress of efforts to—

5 (A) increase reliable energy supplies for 

6 the needs and development of the United 

7 States, Canada, and Mexico; 

8 (B) streamline and update regulations con9 cerning energy; 

10 (C) promote energy efficiency, conserva11 tion, and technologies; 

12 (D) work with Canada and Mexico to de13 velop a North American energy alliance to bol14 ster the collective security of the United States, 

15 Canada, and Mexico by increased reliance on 

16 North American energy sources; and 

17 (E) work with Mexico to—

18 (i) increase Mexico’s crude oil and 

19 natural gas production by obtaining the 

20 technology and financial resources needed 

21 by Mexico for energy sector development; 

22 (ii) attract sufficient private direct in23 vestment in the upstream sector, within 

24 the constitutional framework of Mexico, to 
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1 foster the development of additional crude 

2 oil and natural gas production; and 

3 (iii) attract sufficient private direct 

4 investment in the downstream sector, with5 in the domestic legal framework of Mexico, 

6 to foster the development of additional do7 mestic refining capacity to reduce costs for 

8 consumers and to move Mexico toward 

9 self-sufficiency in meeting its domestic en10 ergy needs. 

11 (17) FEASIBILITY OF COMMON EXTERNAL TAR12 IFF AND DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE TO THE ECON13 OMY OF MEXICO.—The progress of efforts to deter14 mine the feasibility of—

15 (A) harmonizing external tariffs with Mex16 ico on a sector-by-sector basis to the lowest pre17 vailing rate consistent with multilateral obliga18 tions, with the goal of creating a long-term 

19 common external tariff; 

20 (B) accelerating and expanding the imple21 mentation of existing smart border actions 

22 plans to facilitate intra-North American travel 

23 and commerce; 
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1 (C) working with Mexican authorities to 

2 devise policies designed to stimulate the Mexi3 can economy that—

4 (i) attracts investment; 

5 (ii) stimulates growth; and 

6 (iii) commands broad public support 

7 and provides for Mexicans to find jobs in 

8 Mexico; and 

9 (D) working to support the development of 

10 Mexican industries, job growth, and appropriate 

11 improvements to social services. 

12 SEC. 4. INFORMATION SHARING AGREEMENTS. 

13 The Secretary of State, in coordination with the Sec14 retary of Homeland Security and the appropriate officials 

15 representing the Government of Mexico, is authorized to 

16 negotiate an agreement with Mexico to—

17 (1) cooperate in impeding the ability of third 

18 country nationals from using Mexico as a transit 

19 corridor for unauthorized entry into the United 

20 States; and 

21 (2) provide technical assistance to support 

22 stronger immigration control at the border with 

23 Mexico. 
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1 SEC. 5. IMPROVING THE SECURITY OF MEXICO’S SOUTH2 ERN BORDER. 

3 (a) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary of 

4 State, in coordination with the Secretary of Homeland Se5 curity, appropriate officials representing the Canadian De6 partment of Foreign Affairs, and appropriate officials rep7 resenting the Government of Mexico, shall establish a pro8 gram to—

9 (1) assess the specific needs of Guatemala and 

10 Belize in maintaining the security of the borders of 

11 such countries; 

12 (2) use the assessment made under paragraph 

13 (1) to determine the financial and technical support 

14 needed by Guatemala and Belize from the United 

15 States, Canada, and Mexico to meet such needs; 

16 (3) provide technical assistance to Guatemala 

17 and Belize to secure issuance of passports and travel 

18 documents by such countries; and 

19 (4) encourage Guatemala and Belize to—

20 (A) control alien smuggling and traf21 ficking; 

22 (B) prevent the use and manufacture of 

23 fraudulent travel documents; and 

24 (C) share relevant information with the 

25 United States, Canada, and Mexico. 
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1 (b) IMMIGRATION.—The Secretary of Homeland Se2 curity, in consultation with the Secretary of State, appro3 priate officials representing the Government of Guate4 mala, and appropriate officials representing the Govern5 ment of Belize, shall provide robust law enforcement as6 sistance to Guatemala and Belize that specifically address7 es migratory issues to increase the ability of Guatemala 

8 and Belize to dismantle human smuggling organizations 

9 and gain tighter control over the shared border between 

10 Guatemala and Mexico and Belize and Mexico. 

11 (c) BORDER SECURITY BETWEEN MEXICO AND GUA12 TEMALA AND BELIZE.—The Secretary of State, in con13 sultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, the ap14 propriate officials representing the Government of Mexico, 

15 appropriate officials representing the Government of Gua16 temala, and appropriate officials representing the Govern17 ment of Belize shall establish a program to provide needed 

18 equipment, technical assistance, and vehicles to manage, 

19 regulate, and patrol the international border between Mex20 ico and Guatemala and between Mexico and Belize. 

21 (d) TRACKING CENTRAL AMERICAN GANGS.—The 

22 Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of 

23 Homeland Security, the Director of the Federal Bureau 

24 of Investigation, appropriate officials representing the 

25 Government of Mexico, appropriate officials representing 
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1 the Government of Guatemala, appropriate officials rep2 resenting the Government of Belize, and appropriate offi3 cials representing the governments of other Central Amer4 ican countries, shall—

5 (1) assess the direct and indirect impact on the 

6 United States and the countries of Central America 

7 as a result of deporting from the United States vio8 lent criminal aliens back to such countries; 

9 (2) establish a program and database to track 

10 Central American gang activities, focusing on the 

11 identification of returning criminal deportees; 

12 (3) devise an agreed-upon mechanism for notifi13 cation to such countries regarding such deportations 

14 prior to deportation and for support for reintegra15 tion of deportees; and 

16 (4) devise an agreement to share all relevant in17 formation with the appropriate government agencies 

18 of Mexico and the appropriate government agencies 

19 of such countries. 

20 (e) AERIAL INTERDICTION OF NARCOTRAFFICKING

21 THROUGH CENTRAL AMERICA AND PANAMA.—The Sec22 retary of State shall examine the feasibility of entering 

23 into an agreement with Panama and with other Central 

24 American countries regarding the establishment of an aer-
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1 ial interdiction program that in similar contexts is com2 monly referred to as ‘‘Airbridge Denial’’. 

3 SEC. 6. NORTH AMERICAN DEFENSE INSTITUTIONS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense, in con5 sultation with the Secretary of State, shall examine the 

6 feasibility of—

7 (1) strengthening institutions for consultations 

8 on defense issues among the United States, Canada, 

9 and Mexico specifically through—

10 (A) the Joint Interagency Task Force 

11 South; 

12 (B) the Permanent Joint Board on De13 fense; 

14 (C) joint-staff talks; and 

15 (D) senior Army border talks; 

16 (2) proposing mechanisms to reach agreements 

17 with Canada and Mexico regarding contingency 

18 plans for responding to threats along the inter19 national borders of the United States; 

20 (3) in consultation with Canada and Mexico, 

21 and with input from the United States Northern 

22 Command—

23 (A) developing bilateral and trilateral capa24 bilities and coordination mechanisms to address 

25 common threats along shared borders; and 
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1 (B) working cooperatively to clearly limit 

2 the term ‘‘threats’’ to encompass only military 

3 or defense-related threats, rather than other 

4 threats to homeland security; 

5 (4) offering technical support to willing regional 

6 parties to maintain airspace security, including con7 sultation mechanisms with the Joint Interagency 

8 Task Force and the North American Aerospace De9 fense Command, to improve security in the North 

10 American and Central American airspace; and 

11 (5) proposing mechanisms to strengthen com12 munication information and intelligence sharing on 

13 defense issues among the United States, Canada, 

14 and Mexico. 

15 SEC. 7. REPATRIATION. 

16 The Secretary of State shall—

17 (1) offer incentives, and negotiate with, other 

18 countries to accept the International Civil Aviation 

19 Organization Annex 9 one-time travel document pro20 vided by the United States in lieu of official travel 

21 documents if an inadmissible alien has not presented 

22 official travel documents or has presented fraudulent 

23 ones; and 

24 (2) provide the proper support necessary to fa25 cilitate the removal of inadmissible aliens from the 
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1 United States and their repatriation in, or reinstate2 ment by, their country of nationality or last country 

3 of habitual residence, with a focus on criminal aliens 

4 who are considered particularly dangerous or who 

5 are potential terrorists.

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