I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 10265 

To establish the Department of Homeland Security Northern Border Mission 

Center, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 29, 2024 

Mr. SUOZZI (for himself and Mr. PAPPAS) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 

A BILL 

To establish the Department of Homeland Security Northern 

Border Mission Center, 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 ‘‘Securing our Northern 

5 Border Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY NORTH7 ERN BORDER MISSION CENTER. 

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year after 

9 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 


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1 establish the Department of Homeland Security Northern 

2 Border Mission Center. 

3 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Center shall be 

4 to serve as the Department’s forward deployed centralized 

5 operations support center for domain awareness, informa6 tion sharing, intelligence, training, and stakeholder en7 gagement with Federal, State, tribal, local, and inter8 national government partners along the northern border 

9 of the United States. 

10 (c) LOCATION.—The Center shall be placed along the 

11 northern border at a location that is collocated with an 

12 existing U.S. Border Patrol sector headquarters, an Air 

13 and Marine Operations branch, and a United States Coast 

14 Guard air station, and other existing Department activi15 ties. 

16 (d) COMPONENTS.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Center shall collocate 

18 personnel and activities of— 

19 (A) U.S. Customs and Border Protection; 

20 (B) the United States Coast Guard; 

21 (C) U.S. Immigration and Customs En22 forcement’s Homeland Security Investigations; 

23 and 

24 (D) other components and offices of the 

25 Department that the Secretary determines to be 


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1 necessary, including to support the training, 

2 technology testing, and development described 

3 in subsection (e). 

4 (2) ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL.—Additional Fed5 eral, State, tribal, local, and international govern6 ment partners may be collocated as the Secretary 

7 determines to be necessary and appropriate to sup8 port the operations described in this section. 

9 (e) FUNCTIONS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Center shall perform 

11 the functions described in this subsection in addition 

12 to any other functions assigned by the Secretary. In 

13 carrying out these functions, the Center shall sup14 port the Department’s northern border security op15 erations. 

16 (2) NORTHERN BORDER STRATEGY.—The Cen17 ter, in collaboration with relevant offices and compo18 nents of the Department, shall— 

19 (A) serve as a coordination mechanism for 

20 operational components for the implementation 

21 of the Department of Homeland Security 

22 Northern Border Strategy and any successor 

23 strategy and support appropriate offices of the 

24 Department in the evaluation and updating of 

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1 ern Border Strategy and any successor strat2 egy; and 

3 (B) support the development of best prac4 tices and policies for personnel at the northern 

5 border to support such implementation. 

6 (3) TRAINING.—The Center shall serve as a 

7 training location to support the delivery of training 

8 or exercises for Department personnel and Federal, 

9 State, tribal, local, and international government 

10 partners. 

11 (4) RESOURCE AND TECHNOLOGICAL NEEDS

12 AND CHALLENGES.—The Center, in collaboration 

13 with relevant offices and components of the Depart14 ment, shall— 

15 (A) identify resource and technological 

16 needs or challenges affecting security along the 

17 northern border; and 

18 (B) serve as a testing ground and dem19 onstration location for the testing of border se20 curity technology, including determining such 

21 technology’s suitability and performance in the 

22 northern border and maritime environments. 

23 (5) AIR AND MARINE OPERATIONS.— 

24 (A) QUICK REACTION CAPABILITIES.—In 

25 support of the Center, U.S. Customs and BorVerDate Sep 11 2014 15:52 Dec 28, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H10265.IH H10265

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1 der Protection’s Air and Marine Operations 

2 shall establish and maintain capability that is 

3 collocated with the Center and available for 

4 quick deployment in support of the northern 

5 border missions, U.S. Customs and Border Pro6 tection, and the Department, including missions 

7 in the Great Lakes region. 

8 (B) NORTHERN BORDER DOMAIN AWARE9 NESS.—In order to coordinate with the Center 

10 and support its operations, the Air and Marine 

11 Operations Center shall collocate personnel and 

12 resources with the Center to enhance the De13 partment’s capabilities to— 

14 (i) support air and maritime domain 

15 awareness and information sharing efforts 

16 along the northern border; 

17 (ii) provide dedicated monitoring of 

18 northern border systems; and 

19 (iii) lead, in coordination with other 

20 U.S. Customs and Border Protection com21 ponents, Federal, State, tribal, local, and 

22 international governments, and private sec23 tor partners, the Center’s efforts to track 

24 and monitor legitimate cross-border traffic 


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1 involving unmanned aircraft and un2 manned aircraft systems. 

3 (6) COUNTER-UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYS4 TEMS.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—Pursuant to policies es6 tablished by the Secretary, consistent with sec7 tion 210G of the Homeland Security Act of 

8 2002 (6 U.S.C. 124n), the Center shall support 

9 counter-unmanned aircraft systems operations 

10 along the northern border to respond to the in11 creased use of unmanned aircraft systems. 

12 (B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

13 this section may be construed to provide addi14 tional authority related to detection, mitigation, 

15 research, development, or testing of unmanned 

16 aircraft systems or counter-unmanned aircraft 

17 systems. 

18 (7) PRIVACY AND CIVIL RIGHTS.—The Center, 

19 in collaboration with the Chief Privacy Officer and 

20 the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of the 

21 Department, shall ensure that operations and prac22 tices of the Center comply with the privacy and civil 

23 rights policies of the Department and its compo24 nents, and as necessary, ensure there are resources 


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1 or personnel available to support the Center’s mis2 sion onsite. 

3 (8) NONCONTIGUOUS NORTHERN BORDER.— 

4 The Center, in collaboration with relevant offices 

5 and components of the Department, shall identify 

6 the specific challenges that exist along the non7 contiguous international land border with Canada 

8 and the maritime border with Russia, including re9 source, technological challenges, and domain aware10 ness. 

11 (f) ANNUAL REPORTING.—Not later than 180 days 

12 after the establishment of the Center, and annually there13 after, the Secretary shall submit a report, that may in14 clude a classified annex or a sensitive but unclassified 

15 annex, to the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov16 ernmental Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on For17 eign Relations of the Senate, the Committee on Com18 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, the 

19 Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Rep20 resentatives, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 

21 House of Representatives, and the Committee on Trans22 portation and Infrastructure of the House of Representa23 tives that describes the activities of the Center during the 

24 most recently concluded fiscal year, including— 

25 (1) personnel levels; 


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1 (2) additional resources that are needed to sup2 port the operations of the Center and northern bor3 der operations of the Department; and 

4 (3) any additional assets or authorities that are 

5 needed to increase security and domain awareness 

6 along the northern border. 

7 (g) TEMPORARY DUTY ASSIGNMENTS.—The Sec8 retary shall submit a quarterly report to the Committee 

9 on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 

10 Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security of the 

11 House of Representatives regarding temporary duty as12 signments of U.S. Border Patrol agents during the report13 ing period, including— 

14 (1) the number of agents on temporary duty as15 signment; 

16 (2) the duration of the temporary duty assign17 ment; 

18 (3) the sectors from which the agents were as19 signed; and 

20 (4) the sectors to which the agents were as21 signed. 

22 (h) REPORT ON LARGE UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYS23 TEMS OPERATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

24 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland 

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1 land Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the 

2 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 

3 the Senate, the Committee on Homeland Security of the 

4 House of Representatives, and the Committee on Trans5 portation and Infrastructure of the House of Representa6 tives on the Department’s operation of large unmanned 

7 aircraft systems. The report shall include information on 

8 existing large unmanned aircraft systems, as well as rec9 ommendations on how to enable the operations of large 

10 unmanned aircraft systems based at the Center estab11 lished pursuant to subsection (a) of this section. 

12 (i) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.— 

13 (1) AUTHORITY TO ESTABLISH CENTER.—The 

14 Center established pursuant to subsection (a) shall 

15 be established separate and distinct from the Sec16 retary’s authorities under section 708 of the Home17 land Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 348). 

18 (2) COMMANDANT AUTHORITY.—Nothing in 

19 this section shall be construed to affect, impinge, or 

20 alter any authority of the Commandant of the Coast 

21 Guard under title 14 or title 46, United States 

22 Code, or limit the Commandant’s discretion and 

23 ability to deploy Coast Guard assets and personnel. 

24 (j) SUNSET.—This section shall cease to be effective 

25 beginning on October 1, 2027. 


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1 (k) NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS.—No additional funds 

2 are authorized to be appropriated for the purpose of car3 rying out this section. 

4 (l) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

5 (1) CENTER.—The term ‘‘Center’’ means the 

6 Department of Homeland Security Northern Border 

7 Mission Center established pursuant to subsection 

8 (a). 

9 (2) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

10 means the Department of Homeland Security. 

11 (3) NORTHERN BORDER.—The term ‘‘northern 

12 border’’ means— 

13 (A) the international border between the 

14 United States and Canada; and 

15 (B) the maritime border between Alaska 

16 and the Russian Federation. 

17 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

18 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

Æ 


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