I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2321 

To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a plan to respond 

to irregular migration surges at the border, to establish an irregular 

migration surge border response fund, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 1, 2021 

Mr. KATKO (for himself, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana, Mr. GUEST, Mr. VAN DREW, Mr. NORMAN, Mrs. HARSHBARGER, 

Mr. GIMENEZ, Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS, Mrs. CAMMACK, Mr. LATURNER, 

Mr. GARBARINO, Mr. CLYDE, and Mr. MEIJER) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish 

a plan to respond to irregular migration surges at the 

border, to establish an irregular migration surge border 

response fund, 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 Surge Re5 sponse and Resilience Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. IRREGULAR MIGRATION SURGE BORDER RE2 SPONSE PLAN AND FUND. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle C of title IV of the 

4 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 231 et seq.) 

5 is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 437. IRREGULAR MIGRATION SURGE BORDER RE7 SPONSE PLAN AND FUND. 

8 ‘‘(a) RESPONSE PLAN.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in coordina10 tion with the heads of appropriate Federal agencies, 

11 shall develop a plan to respond to irregular migra12 tion surges at the border that present risks to bor13 der security (referred to in this section as the ‘Re14 sponse Plan’). 

15 ‘‘(2) ELEMENTS.—The Response Plan shall in16 clude the following: 

17 ‘‘(A) The identification of— 

18 ‘‘(i) each agency, component, and of19 fice participating in the Response Plan; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(ii) the role, chain of command, and 

22 responsibilities, including minimum accept23 able response times, of each such entity 

24 identified pursuant to clause (i). 

25 ‘‘(B) A strategy to— 


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1 ‘‘(i) enhance security and reinforce in2 frastructure of the Department along the 

3 border; 

4 ‘‘(ii) maximize the use of Border Pa5 trol Processing Coordinators to assist with 

6 processing individuals in the custody of the 

7 Department at the border; and 

8 ‘‘(iii) conduct streamlined screening 

9 and processing procedures of individuals in 

10 the custody of the Department at the bor11 der without diminishing security measures 

12 or normally conducted checks during such 

13 procedures. 

14 ‘‘(C) A process to— 

15 ‘‘(i) identify needed personnel and de16 tail such personnel to the border; 

17 ‘‘(ii) request interagency assistance 

18 for the border; 

19 ‘‘(iii) quickly expand temporary proc20 essing and holding capacity to respond to 

21 an irregular migration surge at the border; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(iv) track and keep the Secretary in24 formed of the metrics identified in sub25 section (c). 


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1 ‘‘(D) Policies and procedures to ensure 

2 timely communication and coordination between 

3 relevant agencies relating to— 

4 ‘‘(i) the capacity of Department bor5 der facilities; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) transferring individuals at the 

7 border in the custody of the Department 

8 within the Department or to other agen9 cies. 

10 ‘‘(E) A process to initiate and conduct an 

11 after-action review of the efforts of the Depart12 ment in response to an irregular migration 

13 surge at the border. 

14 ‘‘(F) A strategy to ensure any individual at 

15 the border in the custody of the Department is 

16 not released into the United States during a 

17 public health emergency, if any such individual 

18 has a communicable disease relating to the pub19 lic health emergency. 

20 ‘‘(G) A strategy to inform and coordinate, 

21 for the purposes of public safety, any release of 

22 individuals at the border from the custody of 

23 the Department with the appropriate State, 

24 Tribal, and local governments, non-governVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2321.IH H2321

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1 mental organizations, and relevant transpor2 tation companies. 

3 ‘‘(H) A regularly updated intelligence driv4 en analysis that includes— 

5 ‘‘(i) trends at the border with respect 

6 to demographics and group size that could 

7 contribute to overcrowding of CBP border 

8 facilities; 

9 ‘‘(ii) migrant perceptions of United 

10 States law and policy at the border, includ11 ing human smuggling organization mes12 saging and propaganda; 

13 ‘‘(iii) tactics, techniques, and proce14 dures used by human smuggling organiza15 tions to exploit border security 

16 vulnerabilities to facilitate such smuggling 

17 activities across the border; 

18 ‘‘(iv) a consideration of historical ap19 prehension recidivism rates and any fluc20 tuation with respect to such rates; 

21 ‘‘(v) the methods and use of tech22 nology to organize and encourage irregular 

23 migration and undermine border security; 

24 and 


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1 ‘‘(vi) any other information the Sec2 retary determines appropriate. 

3 ‘‘(b) DEPARTMENT COORDINATION.— 

4 ‘‘(1) PARTNERSHIPS.—The Secretary shall di5 rect the participants in the Response Plan of the 

6 Department to enter into necessary and appropriate 

7 memoranda of understanding or other appropriate 

8 agreements, to be periodically updated, to carry out 

9 the requirements of this section. 

10 ‘‘(2) ONGOING INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS.—The 

11 Secretary shall identify and implement the appro12 priate process to coordinate information sharing be13 tween the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, CBP, 

14 ICE, and any other appropriate agency in prepara15 tion for or during an irregular migration surge at 

16 the border to assess the estimated number of indi17 viduals traveling to the United States border outside 

18 of standard trade and travel routes. 

19 ‘‘(3) COMMUNICATION.—The Secretary shall 

20 identify the most appropriate communication struc21 ture to ensure immediate and continued success of 

22 the Response Plan. 

23 ‘‘(c) RESPONSE PLAN ACTIVATION.— 

24 ‘‘(1) THRESHOLD IDENTIFICATION AND ACTIVA25 TION.—The Secretary shall— 


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1 ‘‘(A) identify metric thresholds required to 

2 activate the Response Plan; and 

3 ‘‘(B) activate the Response Plan when 

4 such thresholds are satisfied. 

5 ‘‘(2) ELEMENTS.—The metric thresholds to be 

6 considered by the Secretary pursuant to paragraph 

7 (1) include the following: 

8 ‘‘(A) The average amount of time an indi9 vidual at the border is in the custody of CBP, 

10 disaggregated by whether such individual is a 

11 single adult, a member of a family unit, or an 

12 unaccompanied alien child. 

13 ‘‘(B) The total percentage of individuals at 

14 the border in the custody of the Department 

15 with respect to capacity, disaggregated by— 

16 ‘‘(i) field office or sector; and 

17 ‘‘(ii) whether such an individual in the 

18 custody of the Department is a single 

19 adult, a member of a family unit, or an 

20 unaccompanied alien child. 

21 ‘‘(C) The total percentage of individuals in 

22 the custody of a partner agency with respect to 

23 capacity, disaggregated by each facility holding 

24 such individuals. 


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1 ‘‘(D) The estimated number of individuals 

2 traveling to the United States border outside of 

3 standard trade and travel routes as determined 

4 by intelligence and other sources. 

5 ‘‘(E) Any other such threshold the Sec6 retary determines appropriate. 

7 ‘‘(3) NOTIFICATIONS TO CONGRESS.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 45 

9 days after the date of the enactment of this 

10 Act, the Secretary shall notify the appropriate 

11 congressional committees of the finalization of 

12 the metric thresholds required under paragraph 

13 (1)(A). 

14 ‘‘(B) UPDATING METRIC THRESHOLDS.— 

15 Not later than 14 days after the Secretary up16 dates such metric thresholds, the Secretary 

17 shall notify the appropriate congressional com18 mittees of such update. 

19 ‘‘(d) AFTER-ACTION REVIEW.—The Secretary shall 

20 develop a process, including policies and procedures, to ini21 tiate and conduct an after-action review of the efforts of 

22 the Department in response to an irregular migration 

23 surge at the border that presents risks to border security. 

24 The review shall— 


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1 ‘‘(1) be conducted at the conclusion of such a 

2 surge in which the Response Plan has been activated 

3 by the Secretary; and 

4 ‘‘(2) include a consideration of any necessary 

5 changes, including allocation of resources and 

6 changes in authority, law, or policy to improve the 

7 ability of the Department to respond to future irreg8 ular migration surges at the border and mititgate 

9 the risks to border security from such surges. 

10 ‘‘(e) UPDATING RESPONSE PLAN.—The Secretary 

11 shall— 

12 ‘‘(1) periodically update the Response Plan and 

13 the appropriate metric thresholds to activate the Re14 sponse Plan; and 

15 ‘‘(2) consider the most recent action-after re16 view required under subsection (d) for such an up17 date. 

18 ‘‘(f) BRIEFING TO CONGRESS.—If the Secretary acti19 vates the Response Plan pursuant to subsection (c)(1)(B), 

20 not later than 14 days after such activation, the Secretary 

21 shall— 

22 ‘‘(1) brief the appropriate congressional com23 mittees with respect to such activation; and 

24 ‘‘(2) include with such briefing an assessment 

25 with respect to whether there is a need to obligate 


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1 and expend amounts available from the Irregular 

2 Migration Surge Border Response Fund, established 

3 pursuant to subsection (g). 

4 ‘‘(g) IRREGULAR MIGRATION SURGE BORDER RE5 SPONSE FUND.— 

6 ‘‘(1) CREATION OF FUND.—There is established 

7 in the Treasury of the United States a fund to be 

8 known as the ‘Irregular Migration Surge Border Re9 sponse Fund’ (referred to in this section referred to 

10 as the ‘Fund’), consisting of amounts appropriated 

11 pursuant to the authorization of appropriations in 

12 paragraph (4). 

13 ‘‘(2) INVESTMENT OF AMOUNTS.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the 

15 Treasury shall invest such portion of the Fund 

16 as is not required to meet current withdrawals 

17 in interest-bearing obligations of the United 

18 States or in obligations guaranteed as to both 

19 principal and interest by the United States. 

20 ‘‘(B) INTEREST AND PROCEEDS.—The in21 terest on, and the proceeds from the sale or re22 demption of, any obligations held in the Fund 

23 shall be credited to and form a part of the 

24 Fund. 

25 ‘‘(3) USE OF FUNDS.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may 

2 only obligate and expend amounts available in 

3 the Fund— 

4 ‘‘(i) if the Secretary activates the Re5 sponse Plan pursuant to subsection 

6 (a)(4)(A); and 

7 ‘‘(ii) for the purposes described in 

8 subparagraph (B). 

9 ‘‘(B) PURPOSES.—The purposes described 

10 in this subparagraph are the following: 

11 ‘‘(i) Replenishing the depletion of 

12 consumables, personal protective equip13 ment, medical supplies and equipment, 

14 transportation equipment, and personnel 

15 overtime funds. 

16 ‘‘(ii) Expanding temporary Depart17 ment processing capacity, long-term hold18 ing capacity, and transportation services 

19 for individuals at the border in the custody 

20 of the Department or partner agencies. 

21 ‘‘(iii) Ensuring timely communication 

22 and transportation between the agencies of 

23 the Department, or with partner agencies, 

24 with respect to the transfer of individuals 


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1 at the border in the custody of the Depart2 ment. 

3 ‘‘(iv) Requesting interagency assist4 ance and detailing Department personnel 

5 in order to respond to an irregular migra6 tion surge. 

7 ‘‘(4) REMAINING AMOUNTS.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Amounts in the Fund 

9 shall remain available until expended. 

10 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—Amounts remaining in 

11 the Fund at the end of fiscal year 2025 shall 

12 be returned to the general fund of the Treas13 ury. 

14 ‘‘(5) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

15 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Ir16 regular Migration Surge Border Response Fund 

17 $1,000,000,000 in fiscal year 2022 and such sums 

18 as are necessary to maintain a balance of 

19 $1,000,000,000 for each fiscal year from 2022 

20 through 2025. 

21 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

22 ‘‘(1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT23 TEES.—The term ‘appropriate congressional com24 mittees’ means— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the Committee on Homeland Security 

2 of the House of Representatives; and 

3 ‘‘(B) the Committee on Homeland Security 

4 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate. 

5 ‘‘(2) BORDER.—The term ‘border’ means the 

6 international land borders of the United States. 

7 ‘‘(3) CBP.—The term ‘CBP’ means U.S. Cus8 toms and Border Protection. 

9 ‘‘(4) ICE.—The term ‘ICE’ means U.S. Immi10 gration and Customs Enforcement. 

11 ‘‘(5) IRREGULAR MIGRATION SURGE.—The term 

12 ‘irregular migration surge’ means a significant in13 crease or a sustained large number of Department 

14 encounters with individuals at the border that— 

15 ‘‘(A) do not use the formal immigration 

16 system of countries they are traveling through; 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(B) are traveling to, or attempting to 

19 enter, the United States illegally. 

20 ‘‘(6) PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY.—The term 

21 ‘public health emergency’ means a public health 

22 emergency declared by the Secretary of Health and 

23 Human Services pursuant to section 319 of the Pub24 lic Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d).’’. 


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1 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

2 in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is 

3 amended by inserting after the item relating to section 

4 436 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 437. Irregular Migration Surge Border Response Plan and Fund.’’. 

Æ 


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