I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2045 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish in the Department 

of Homeland Security the Biometric Identification Transnational Migration Alert Program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 18, 2021 

Mr. MCCAUL (for himself, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. KATKO, and Mr. KEATING) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Homeland Security 

A BILL 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish 

in the Department of Homeland Security the Biometric 

Identification Transnational Migration Alert Program, 

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 ‘‘Biometric Identifica5 tion Transnational Migration Alert Program Authoriza6 tion Act’’ or the ‘‘BITMAP Authorization Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. BIOMETRIC IDENTIFICATION TRANSNATIONAL MI2 GRATION ALERT PROGRAM. 

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

4 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 251 et seq.) 

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

6 ‘‘SEC. 447. BIOMETRIC IDENTIFICATION TRANSNATIONAL 

7 MIGRATION ALERT PROGRAM. 

8 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

9 Department a program to be known as the ‘Biometric 

10 Identification Transnational Migration Alert Program’ 

11 (referred to in this section as ‘BITMAP’) to address and 

12 reduce national security, border security, and terrorist 

13 threats before such threats reach the international border 

14 of the United States. 

15 ‘‘(b) DUTIES.—In carrying out BITMAP operations, 

16 the Secretary, acting through the Director of U.S. Immi17 gration and Customs Enforcement, shall— 

18 ‘‘(1) coordinate, in consultation with the Sec19 retary of State, appropriate representatives of for20 eign governments, and the heads of other Federal 

21 agencies, as appropriate, to facilitate the voluntary 

22 sharing of biometric and biographic information col23 lected from foreign nationals for the purpose of iden24 tifying and screening such nationals to identify those 

25 nationals who may pose a terrorist threat or a threat 

26 to national security or border security; 


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1 ‘‘(2) provide capabilities, including training and 

2 equipment, to partner countries to voluntarily collect 

3 biometric and biographic identification data from in4 dividuals to identify, prevent, detect, and interdict 

5 high risk individuals identified as national security, 

6 border security, or terrorist threats who may at7 tempt to enter the United States utilizing illicit 

8 pathways; 

9 ‘‘(3) provide capabilities, including training and 

10 equipment, to partner countries to compare foreign 

11 data against appropriate United States national se12 curity, border security, terrorist, immigration, and 

13 counter-terrorism data, including— 

14 ‘‘(A) the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 

15 Terrorist Screening Database, or successor 

16 database; 

17 ‘‘(B) the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 

18 Next Generation Identification database, or suc19 cessor database; 

20 ‘‘(C) the Department of Defense Auto21 mated Biometric Identification System (com22 monly known as ‘ABIS’), or successor database; 

23 ‘‘(D) the Department’s Automated Biomet24 ric Identification System (commonly known as 

25 ‘IDENT’), or successor database; and 


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1 ‘‘(E) any other database, notice, or means 

2 that the Secretary, in consultation with the 

3 heads of other Federal departments and agen4 cies responsible for such databases, notices, or 

5 means, designates; 

6 ‘‘(4) provide partner countries with training, 

7 guidance, and best practices recommendations re8 garding the enrollment of individuals in BITMAP; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(5) ensure biometric and biographic identifica11 tion data collected pursuant to BITMAP are incor12 porated into appropriate United States Government 

13 databases, in compliance with the policies and proce14 dures established by the Privacy Officer appointed 

15 under section 222. 

16 ‘‘(c) COLLABORATION.—The Secretary shall ensure 

17 that BITMAP operations include participation from rel18 evant components of the Department, and request partici19 pation from other Federal agencies, as appropriate. Not20 withstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary 

21 may enter into agreements related to such participation 

22 on a reimbursable or non-reimbursable basis, as appro23 priate. 

24 ‘‘(d) AGREEMENTS.—Before carrying out BITMAP 

25 operations in a foreign country that, as of the date of the 


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1 enactment of this section, was not a partner country de2 scribed in this section, the Secretary, in consultation with 

3 the Secretary of State, shall enter into agreement or ar4 rangement with the government of such country that sets 

5 forth program goals for such country, includes training, 

6 guidance, and best practices recommendations regarding 

7 the enrollment of individuals in BITMAP, and outlines 

8 such operations in such country, including related depart9 mental operations. Such country shall be a partner coun10 try described in this section pursuant to and for purposes 

11 of such agreement or arrangement. 

12 ‘‘(e) NOTIFICATION TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 

13 60 days before an agreement or arrangement with the gov14 ernment of a foreign country to carry out BITMAP oper15 ations in such foreign country enters into force, the Sec16 retary shall provide the Committee on Homeland Security 

17 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

18 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen19 ate with a copy of such agreement or arrangement to es20 tablish such operations, including the following: 

21 ‘‘(1) The identification of the foreign country 

22 with which the Secretary intends to enter into such 

23 an agreement or arrangement. 

24 ‘‘(2) The location at which such operations will 

25 be conducted. 


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1 ‘‘(3) Goals for BITMAP operations in the for2 eign country. 

3 ‘‘(4) The terms and conditions for Department 

4 personnel operating at such location. 

5 ‘‘(f) CAPTURED INFORMATION OF UNITED STATES

6 CITIZENS.—The Secretary shall ensure that any biometric 

7 and biographic identification data of United States citi8 zens that is captured by BITMAP operations is expunged 

9 from all databases to which such data was uploaded, un10 less such data is retained for specific law enforcement or 

11 intelligence purposes.’’. 

12 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

13 on which the Biometric Identification Transnational Mi14 gration Alert Program (BITMAP) is established under 

15 section 447 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (as 

16 added by subsection (a) of this section) and annually 

17 thereafter for the following five years, the Secretary of 

18 Homeland Security shall submit to the Committee on 

19 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and 

20 the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 

21 Affairs of the Senate a report that— 

22 (1) outlines the strategic goals and operational 

23 plans for BITMAP; 

24 (2) outlines key efforts and the progress made 

25 with each partner country; 


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1 (3) provides a description of the agreement or 

2 arrangement with the government of each partner 

3 country, if practicable; 

4 (4) provides budget information related to ex5 penditures in support of BITMAP, including the 

6 source of funding and anticipated expenditures; 

7 (5) sets forth Department of Homeland Secu8 rity personnel, equipment, and infrastructure sup9 port to be used by BITMAP, broken down by coun10 try and number; 

11 (6) includes the number of individuals each 

12 partner country enrolled into BITMAP during the 

13 reporting period, broken down by key categories, as 

14 determined by U.S. Immigration and Customs En15 forcement; 

16 (7) includes the training, guidance, and best 

17 practices recommendations provided pursuant to 

18 subsection (b)(4) of such section 447; 

19 (8) includes a review of the redress process for 

20 BITMAP; and 

21 (9) details the effectiveness of BITMAP oper22 ations in enhancing national security, border secu23 rity, and counterterrorism operations. 

24 (c) BRIEFINGS.—Not later than 30 days after each 

25 report is submitted pursuant to subsection (b), the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2045.IH H2045

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1 retary of Homeland Security shall brief the Committee on 

2 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen3 ate and the Committee on Homeland Security of the 

4 House of Representatives regarding— 

5 (1) individuals enrolled in BITMAP who have 

6 been apprehended at the United States border or in 

7 the interior of the United States; and 

8 (2) asylum claims that were submitted by indi9 viduals who are enrolled in BITMAP. 

10 (d) GAO AUDIT.—Not later than six months after 

11 the date of the enactment of this Act and every three years 

12 thereafter, the Comptroller General of the United States 

13 shall— 

14 (1) conduct an audit that analyzes the effective15 ness of BITMAP operations; and 

16 (2) submit to the Committee on Homeland Se17 curity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and 

18 the Committee on Homeland Security of the House 

19 of Representatives a report containing the results of 

20 such audit. 

21 (e) SUNSET.—Section 447 of the Homeland Security 

22 Act of 2002, as added by subsection (a), shall be repealed 

23 on the date that is six years after the date of the enact24 ment of this Act. 


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1 (f) 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 

4 446 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 447. Biometric Identification Transnational Migration Alert Program.’’. 

Æ 


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