I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1292 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require border community 

stakeholder consultation before the Secretary of Homeland Security may 

construct, install, deploy, operate, or maintain additional physical barriers, tactical infrastructure, or technology between ports of entry along 

the land border with Mexico, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2019 

Mr. VELA (for himself and Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 

A BILL 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require 

border community stakeholder consultation before the 

Secretary of Homeland Security may construct, install, 

deploy, operate, or maintain additional physical barriers, 

tactical infrastructure, or technology between ports of 

entry along the land border with Mexico, 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 Community 

5 Input in Border Security Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. BORDER COMMUNITY STAKEHOLDER CONSULTA2 TION. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle H of title VIII of the 

4 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 451 et seq.) 

5 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 890B. BORDER COMMUNITY STAKEHOLDER CON7 SULTATION. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 102 of 

9 the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsi10 bility Act of 1996, the Secretary may not construct, in11 stall, deploy, operate, or maintain additional physical bar12 riers, tactical infrastructure, or technology (including the 

13 removal of obstacles for such purpose) between ports of 

14 entry in a Border Patrol sector along the land border with 

15 Mexico until the Secretary publishes in the Federal Reg16 ister a final mitigation plan with respect to such sector 

17 to minimize in such sector the impact on the economic, 

18 environmental, ecological, historical, cultural, commercial, 

19 or other quality of life factors for the communities and 

20 residents located near the sites at which any such physical 

21 barriers, tactical infrastructure, or technology are to be 

22 constructed, installed, deployed, operated, or maintained 

23 (or obstacles are to be removed), as the case may be. Such 

24 final mitigation plan shall be developed in accordance with 

25 this section. 


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1 ‘‘(b) INITIAL MITIGATION PLAN.—The Secretary 

2 shall publish on a publicly available website of the Depart3 ment an announcement regarding any removal, construc4 tion, installation, deployment, operation, or maintenance 

5 described in subsection (a). Such announcement shall— 

6 ‘‘(1) explain the basis for the Secretary’s deter7 mination that any such removal, construction, instal8 lation, deployment, operation, or maintenance, as 

9 the case may be, is the most practical and effective 

10 method to achieve situational awareness and oper11 ational control at the site in the Border Patrol sec12 tor at issue along such border; 

13 ‘‘(2) include, with respect to any such removal, 

14 construction, installation, deployment, operation, or 

15 maintenance, an initial mitigation plan to minimize 

16 the impact on the economic, environmental, ecologi17 cal, historical, cultural, commercial, or other quality 

18 of life factors for border community stakeholders; 

19 ‘‘(3) provide an opportunity for written feed20 back and input from border community stake21 holders; and 

22 ‘‘(4) include the dates, times, and places for at 

23 least two public meetings in locations within 20 

24 miles of each site for which the Secretary makes a 

25 determination pursuant to paragraph (1) for the 


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1 purpose of soliciting feedback and input from border 

2 community stakeholders regarding such initial miti3 gation plan. 

4 ‘‘(c) FINAL MITIGATION PLAN.—After receiving feed5 back and input under subsection (b) regarding an initial 

6 mitigation plan, the Secretary shall develop a final mitiga7 tion plan taking into consideration such feedback and 

8 input. The Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register 

9 such final mitigation plan. 

10 ‘‘(d) UPDATES TO FINAL MITIGATION PLAN.—The 

11 Secretary shall update a final mitigation plan under this 

12 section if significant construction, installation, deploy13 ment, operation, or maintenance of additional physical 

14 barriers, tactical infrastructure, or technology (including 

15 the removal of obstacles for such purpose) is determined 

16 necessary. Any such update shall— 

17 ‘‘(1) be published on a publicly available website 

18 of the Department; 

19 ‘‘(2) meet the requirement described in sub20 section (b)(1); and 

21 ‘‘(3) provide an opportunity for written feed22 back and input from border community stake23 holders. 

24 ‘‘(e) NOTIFICATION.—Not more than 90 days before 

25 commencing any construction, installation, deployment, 


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1 operation, or maintenance of additional physical barriers, 

2 tactical infrastructure, or technology (including removal of 

3 obstacles for such purpose) at a site in a Border Patrol 

4 sector in accordance with this section, the Secretary shall 

5 provide the Comptroller General of the United States, the 

6 Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Rep7 resentatives, and the Committee on Homeland Security 

8 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate with the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(1) The final mitigation plan under subsection 

11 (c) or an updated final mitigation plan under sub12 section (d), together with information relating to the 

13 feedback and input received in accordance with sub14 section (b) or subsection (d), respectively. 

15 ‘‘(2) Information on the following: 

16 ‘‘(A) The type of additional physical bar17 riers, tactical infrastructure, or technology the 

18 Secretary has determined is most practical and 

19 effective to achieve situational awareness and 

20 operational control at such site. 

21 ‘‘(B) The associated timeline for the con22 struction, installation, deployment, operation, or 

23 maintenance of such additional physical bar24 riers, tactical infrastructure, or technology (in25 cluding removal of obstacles for such purpose). 


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1 ‘‘(C) Projected costs, analysis of alter2 natives, and plans for such removal, construc3 tion, installation, deployment, operation, or 

4 maintenance or such additional physical bar5 riers, tactical infrastructure, or technology, to6 gether with specific information on how much 

7 of such site is privately owned and may be sub8 ject to eminent domain. 

9 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

10 ‘‘(1) BORDER COMMUNITY STAKEHOLDERS.— 

11 The term ‘border community stakeholders’ means, 

12 with respect to sites in Border Patrol sectors at 

13 which construction, installation, deployment, oper14 ation, or maintenance of additional physical barriers, 

15 tactical infrastructure, or technology (including re16 moval of obstacles for such purpose) is the subject 

17 of an initial, final, or updated final mitigation plan 

18 under this section— 

19 ‘‘(A) private property owners of such sites; 

20 ‘‘(B) State or local governments or Indian 

21 tribes that own, manage, or administer such 

22 sites or the use of resources of such sites; and 

23 ‘‘(C) other individuals who could be im24 pacted by such departmental action, as deter25 mined by the Secretary. 


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1 ‘‘(2) OPERATIONAL CONTROL.—The term ‘oper2 ational control’ has the meaning given such term in 

3 section 2 of the Secure Fence Act of 2006 (Public 

4 Law 109–367; 8 U.S.C. 1701 note). 

5 ‘‘(3) PROPERTY.—The term ‘property’ means 

6 land, including an estate or interest in land, includ7 ing an easement or right of way in land.’’. 

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

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

10 amended by inserting after the item relating to section 

11 890A the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 890B. Border community stakeholder consultation.’’. 

Æ 


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