II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1875 

To provide financial aid to local law enforcement officials along the Nation’s 

borders, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 17, 2005 

Mr. BINGAMAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide financial aid to local law enforcement officials 

along the Nation’s borders, 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 Relief Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) It is the obligation of the Federal Govern9 ment of the United States to adequately secure the 

10 Nation’s borders and prevent the flow of undocu-
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1 mented persons and illegal drugs into the United 

2 States. 

3 (2) Despite the fact that the United States 

4 Border Patrol apprehends over 1,000,000 people 

5 each year trying to illegally enter the United States, 

6 according to the Congressional Research Service, the 

7 net growth in the number of unauthorized aliens has 

8 increased by approximately 500,000 each year. The 

9 Southwest border accounts for approximately 94 

10 percent of all migrant apprehensions each year. Cur11 rently, there are an estimated 11,000,000 unauthor12 ized aliens in the United States. 

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

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

15 Intelligence Center, 65 percent of the narcotics that 

16 are sold in the markets of the United States enter 

17 the country through the Southwest Border. 

18 (4) Border communities continue to incur sig19 nificant costs due to the lack of adequate border se20 curity. A 2001 study by the United States-Mexico 

21 Border Counties Coalition found that law enforce22 ment and criminal justice expenses associated with 

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

24 the Southwest border counties. 
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1 (5) In August 2005, the States of New Mexico 

2 and Arizona declared states of emergency in order to 

3 provide local law enforcement immediate assistance 

4 in addressing criminal activity along the Southwest 

5 border. 

6 (6) While the Federal Government provides 

7 States and localities assistance in covering costs re8 lated to the detention of certain criminal aliens and 

9 the prosecution of Federal drug cases, local law en10 forcement along the border are provided no assist11 ance in covering such expenses and must use their 

12 limited resources to combat drug trafficking, human 

13 smuggling, kidnappings, the destruction of private 

14 property, and other border-related crimes. 

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

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

17 Many of the local law enforcement agencies located 

18 along the border are small, rural departments 

19 charged with patrolling large areas of land. Counties 

20 along the Southwest United States-Mexico border 

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

22 financial resources to cover the additional costs asso23 ciated with illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and 

24 other border-related crimes. 
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1 (8) Federal assistance is required to help local 

2 law enforcement operating along the border address 

3 the unique challenges that arise as a result of their 

4 proximity to an international border and the lack of 

5 overall border security in the region. 

6 SEC. 3. BORDER RELIEF GRANT PROGRAM. 

7 (a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized 

9 to award grants to an eligible law enforcement agen10 cy to provide assistance to such agency to address— 

11 (A) criminal activity that occurs in the ju12 risdiction of such agency by virtue of such 

13 agency’s proximity to the United States border; 

14 and 

15 (B) the failure of the United States Gov16 ernment to adequately secure its borders. 

17 (2) DURATION.—Grants may be awarded under 

18 this subsection during fiscal years 2006 through 

19 2010. 

20 (3) COMPETITIVE BASIS.—The Secretary shall 

21 award grants under this subsection on a competitive 

22 basis, except that the Secretary shall give priority to 

23 applications from any eligible law enforcement agen24 cy serving a community— 
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1 (A) with a population of less than 50,000; 

2 and 

3 (B) located no more than 100 miles from 

4 a United States border with— 

5 (i) Canada; or 

6 (ii) Mexico. 

7 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—Grants awarded pursuant to 

8 subsection (a) may only be used to provide additional re9 sources for an eligible law enforcement agency to address 

10 criminal activity occurring along any such border, includ11 ing— 

12 (1) to obtain equipment; 

13 (2) to hire additional personnel; 

14 (3) to upgrade and maintain law enforcement 

15 technology; 

16 (4) to cover operational costs, including over17 time and transportation costs; and 

18 (5) such other resources as are available to as19 sist that agency. 

20 (c) APPLICATION.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each eligible law enforce22 ment agency seeking a grant under this section shall 

23 submit an application to the Secretary at such time, 

24 in such manner, and accompanied by such informa25 tion as the Secretary may reasonably require. 
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1 (2) CONTENTS.—Each application submitted 

2 pursuant to paragraph (1) shall— 

3 (A) describe the activities for which assist4 ance under this section is sought; and 

5 (B) provide such additional assurances as 

6 the Secretary determines to be essential to en7 sure compliance with the requirements of this 

8 section. 

9 (d) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this section: 

10 (1) ELIGIBLE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY.— 

11 The term ‘‘eligible law enforcement agency’’ means 

12 a tribal, State, or local law enforcement agency— 

13 (A) located in a county no more than 100 

14 miles from a United States border with— 

15 (i) Canada; or 

16 (ii) Mexico; or 

17 (B) located in a county more than 100 

18 miles from any such border, but where such 

19 county has been certified by the Secretary as a 

20 High Impact Area. 

21 (2) HIGH IMPACT AREA.—The term ‘‘High Im22 pact Area’’ means any county designated by the Sec23 retary as such, taking into consideration— 

24 (A) whether local law enforcement agencies 

25 in that county have the resources to protect the 
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1 lives, property, safety, or welfare of the resi2 dents of that county; 

3 (B) the relationship between the failure of 

4 the United States to secure its borders and the 

5 rise, if any, of criminal activity in that county; 

6 and 

7 (C) any other unique challenges that local 

8 law enforcement face due to a lack of security 

9 along the United States border. 

10 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

11 the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Secu12 rity. 

13 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 

15 appropriated $30,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

16 2006 through 2010 to carry out the provisions of 

17 this section. 

18 (2) DIVISION OF AUTHORIZED FUNDS.—Of the 

19 amounts authorized under paragraph (1)— 

(A) 2 20 ⁄3 shall be set aside for eligible law en21 forcement agencies located in the 6 States with 

22 the largest number of undocumented alien ap23 prehensions; and 
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(B) 1 1 ⁄3 shall be set aside for areas des2 ignated as a High Impact Area under sub3 section (d). 

4 (f) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Amounts appro5 priated for grants under this section shall be used to sup6 plement and not supplant other State and local public 

7 funds obligated for the purposes provided under this Act. 

8 SEC. 4. REPORT REQUIREMENT. 

9 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 

10 of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 

11 shall submit a written report to Congress describing the 

12 costs incurred by State and local law enforcement agencies 

13 in connection with— 

14 (1) criminal activity related to such agencies’ 

15 proximity to the United States border with— 

16 (A) Canada; or 

17 (B) Mexico; and 

18 (2) the failure of the Federal Government to se19 cure the borders of the United States. 

20 SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT OF FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LAW. 

21 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize 

22 State or local law enforcement agencies or their officers 

23 to exercise Federal immigration law enforcement author24 ity. 

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