II

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1452

To provide for electronic access by the Department of State and the Immigration and Naturalization Service to certain information in the criminal

history records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to determine

whether or not a visa applicant or applicant for admission has a criminal

history record.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 21, 2001

Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mr. BROWNBACK, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. LEAHY,

and Ms. CANTWELL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice

and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To provide for electronic access by the Department of State

and the Immigration and Naturalization Service to certain information in the criminal history records of the

Federal Bureau of Investigation to determine whether

or not a visa applicant or applicant for admission has

a criminal history record.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. ACCESS BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE AND

2 THE INS TO CERTAIN IDENTIFYING INFORMA3 TION IN THE CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORDS

4 OF VISA APPLICANTS AND APPLICANTS FOR

5 ADMISSION TO THE UNITED STATES.

6 (a) AMENDMENT OF THE IMMIGRATION AND NA7 TIONALITY ACT.—Section 105 of the Immigration and

8 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1105) is amended—

9 (1) in the section heading, by inserting ‘‘; DATA

10 EXCHANGE’’ after ‘‘SECURITY OFFICERS’’;

11 (2) by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ after ‘‘SEC. 105.’’;

12 (3) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘and border’’

13 after ‘‘internal’’ the second place it appears; and

14 (4) by adding at the end the following:

15 ‘‘(b)(1) Upon the promulgation of final regulations

16 under subsection (d), the Attorney General and the Direc17 tor of the Federal Bureau of Investigation shall provide

18 the Department of State and the Service access to the

19 criminal history record information contained in the Na20 tional Crime Information Center’s Interstate Identifica21 tion Index (NCIC–III), Wanted Persons File, and to any

22 other files maintained by the National Crime Information

23 Center that may be mutually agreed upon by the Attorney

24 General and the agency receiving the access, for the pur25 pose of determining whether or not a visa applicant or
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1 applicant for admission has a criminal history record in2 dexed in any such file.

3 ‘‘(2) Such access shall be provided by means of ex4 tracts of the records for placement in the automated visa

5 lookout or other appropriate database, and shall be pro6 vided without any fee or charge.

7 ‘‘(3) Whoever knowingly uses any information ob8 tained pursuant to this subsection for a purpose other

9 than as authorized under this section shall be fined in ac10 cordance with title 18, United States Code, imprisoned for

11 not more than two years, or both.

12 ‘‘(4) The Federal Bureau of Investigation shall pro13 vide periodic updates of the extracts at intervals mutually

14 agreed upon with the agency receiving the access. Upon

15 receipt of such updated extracts, the receiving agency shall

16 make corresponding updates to its database and destroy

17 previously provided extracts.

18 ‘‘(5) Access to an extract does not entitle the Depart19 ment of State to obtain the full content of the cor20 responding automated criminal history record. To obtain

21 the full content of a criminal history record, the Depart22 ment of State shall submit the applicant’s fingerprints and

23 any appropriate fingerprint processing fee authorized by

24 law to the Criminal Justice Information Services Division

25 of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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1 ‘‘(c) Upon the development and deployment of a more

2 cost-effective and efficient means of providing the same

3 information as is provided under subsection (b), the Attor4 ney General and the receiving agency may suspend the ar5 rangement for providing the access described in this sec6 tion and substitute the newer means.

7 ‘‘(d) For purposes of administering this section, the

8 Department of State shall, prior to receiving access to

9 NCIC data but not later than 4 months after the date

10 of enactment of this subsection, promulgate final

11 regulations—

12 ‘‘(1) to implement procedures for the taking of

13 fingerprints; and

14 ‘‘(2) to establish the conditions for the use of

15 the information received from the Federal Bureau of

16 Investigation, in order—

17 ‘‘(A) to limit the redissemination of such

18 information;

19 ‘‘(B) to ensure that such information is

20 used solely to determine whether or not to issue

21 a visa to an alien or to admit an alien to the

22 United States;

23 ‘‘(C) to ensure the security, confidentiality,

24 and destruction of such information; and
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1 ‘‘(D) to protect any privacy rights of indi2 viduals who are subjects of such information.’’.

3 (b) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 1

4 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney

5 General and the Secretary of State jointly shall report to

6 Congress on the implementation of the amendments made

7 by this section.

8 (c) STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this

9 section, or in any other law, shall be construed to limit

10 the authority of the Attorney General or the Director of

11 the Federal Bureau of Investigation to provide access to

12 the criminal history record information contained in the

13 National Crime Information Center’s (NCIC) Interstate

14 Identification Index (NCIC–III), or to any other informa15 tion maintained by the NCIC, to any Federal agency or

16 officer authorized to enforce or administer the immigra17 tion laws of the United States, for the purpose of such

18 enforcement or administration, upon terms that are con19 sistent with the National Crime Prevention and Privacy

20 Compact Act of 1998 (subtitle A of title II of Public Law

21 105–251; 42 U.S.C. 14611–16) and section 552a of title

22 5, United States Code.

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