I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2542 

To authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security to make grants to hire, 

train, and equip local law enforcement officials on and near the southern 

border of the United States, as well as to reimburse the costs of paying 

overtime to such officials, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 24, 2007 

Mr. RODRIGUEZ (for himself, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. CULBERSON, Mr. HINOJOSA, 

Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. FILNER, Mr. GRIJALVA, and Mr. ORTIZ) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 

Judiciary 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security to make 

grants to hire, train, and equip local law enforcement 

officials on and near the southern border of the United 

States, as well as to reimburse the costs of paying overtime to such officials, 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 ‘‘Border Law Enforce5 ment Enhancement Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 The Congress finds as follows: 

3 (1) It is the obligation of the Federal Govern4 ment of the United States to adequately secure the 

5 Nation’s borders and prevent the flow of undocu6 mented persons and illegal drugs into the United 

7 States. 

8 (2) Despite the fact that the United States 

9 Border Patrol apprehends over 1,000,000 people 

10 each year trying to illegally enter the United States, 

11 according to the Congressional Research Service, the 

12 net growth in the number of unauthorized aliens has 

13 increased by approximately 500,000 each year. The 

14 southwest border accounts for approximately 94 per15 cent of all migrant apprehensions each year. Cur16 rently, there are an estimated 11,000,000 unauthor17 ized aliens in the United States. 

18 (3) The border region is also a major corridor 

19 for the shipment of drugs. According to the El Paso 

20 Intelligence Center, 65 percent of the narcotics that 

21 are sold in the markets of the United States enter 

22 the country through the Southwest Border. 

23 (4) Border communities continue to incur sig24 nificant costs due to the lack of adequate border se25 curity. A 2001 study by the United States-Mexico 

26 Border Counties Coalition found that law enforceVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:50 May 30, 2007 Jkt 059196 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2542.IH H2542

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1 ment and criminal justice expenses associated with 

2 illegal immigration exceed $89,000,000 annually for 

3 the Southwest border counties. 

4 (5) In August 2005, the States of New Mexico 

5 and Arizona declared states of emergency in order to 

6 provide local law enforcement immediate assistance 

7 in addressing criminal activity along the Southwest 

8 border. 

9 (6) While the Federal Government provides 

10 States and localities assistance in covering costs re11 lated to the detention of certain criminal aliens and 

12 the prosecution of Federal drug cases, local law en13 forcement along the border are provided no assist14 ance in covering such expenses and must use their 

15 limited resources to combat drug trafficking, human 

16 smuggling, kidnappings, the destruction of private 

17 property, and other border-related crimes. 

18 (7) The United States shares 5,525 miles of 

19 border with Canada and 1,989 miles with Mexico. 

20 Many of the local law enforcement agencies located 

21 along the border are small, rural departments 

22 charged with patrolling large areas of land. Counties 

23 along the Southwest United States-Mexico border 

24 are some of the poorest in the country and lack the 

25 financial resources to cover the additional costs assoVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:50 May 30, 2007 Jkt 059196 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2542.IH H2542

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1 ciated with illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and 

2 other border-related crimes. 

3 (8) Federal assistance is required to help local 

4 law enforcement operating along the border address 

5 the unique challenges that arise as a result of their 

6 proximity to an international border and the lack of 

7 overall border security in the region. 

8 SEC. 3. BORDER RELIEF GRANT PROGRAM. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made available 

10 under section 4, the Secretary of Homeland Security may 

11 make grants to— 

12 (1) sheriffs’ offices of counties any part of 

13 which is within 25 miles of the southern border of 

14 the United States; and 

15 (2) police departments serving a city, town, or 

16 other political subdivision in a county any part of 

17 which is within 25 miles of the southern border of 

18 the United States (including tribal police depart19 ments serving a community any part of which is 

20 within 25 miles of such border). 

21 (b) USE OF FUNDS.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Grant funds received under 

23 subsection (a) may be used for the following: 

24 (A) To conduct law enforcement operations 

25 in order to enforce criminal laws, prevent and 


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1 punish criminal activity, and protect the lives, 

2 property, and security of the people within the 

3 jurisdiction of the grant recipient. 

4 (B) To transfer aliens detained or in the 

5 custody of the grant recipient who are not law6 fully present in the United States to appro7 priate Federal law enforcement officials. 

8 (C) To enforce State and Federal laws re9 lating to controlled substance trafficking and 

10 enforce other State and Federal criminal laws. 

11 (2) PAYMENT OF COSTS.—Use of funds under 

12 paragraph (1) shall include payment for costs of— 

13 (A) hiring, equipping, training, and other14 wise controlling the operations and deployment 

15 of, law enforcement officials engaged in duties 

16 described in paragraph (1), as well as the costs 

17 of paying overtime to such officials; and 

18 (B) detaining, housing, and transporting 

19 aliens who are not lawfully present in the 

20 United States, and who are taken into custody 

21 by the grant recipient, until the aliens are 

22 transferred to appropriate Federal law enforce23 ment officials. 

24 (3) DETENTION FACILITIES.—In accordance 

25 with paragraph (2)(B), grant funds received under 


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1 subsection (a) may be used for the construction, 

2 maintenance, and operation of detention facilities to 

3 detain aliens who are unlawfully present in the 

4 United States, except that not more than 20 percent 

5 of such funds may be used for the construction or 

6 renovation of detention or similar facilities. 

7 (c) APPLICATION.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each eligible law enforce9 ment agency seeking a grant under this section shall 

10 submit an application to the Secretary of Homeland 

11 Security at such time, in such manner, and accom12 panied by such information as the Secretary of 

13 Homeland Security may reasonably require. 

14 (2) CONTENTS.—Each application submitted 

15 pursuant to paragraph (1) shall— 

16 (A) describe the activities for which assist17 ance under this section is sought; and 

18 (B) provide such additional assurances as 

19 the Secretary of Homeland Security determines 

20 to be essential to ensure compliance with the re21 quirements of this section. 

22 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

23 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec24 retary of Homeland Security to carry out this Act 


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1 $150,000,000 for fiscal year 2008 and each succeeding 

2 fiscal year. 

3 SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT OF FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LAW. 

4 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize 

5 State or local law enforcement agencies or their officers 

6 to exercise Federal immigration law enforcement author7 ity. 

8 SEC. 6. REGULATIONS. 

9 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact10 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall 

11 issue regulations to carry out this Act. 

Æ 


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