I 

119TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 285 

To establish Joint Operations Centers along the southern border of the 

United States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 9, 2025 

Mr. JOYCE of Ohio (for himself, Ms. LEE of Nevada, Mr. CISCOMANI, and 

Mr. PAPPAS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Ways 

and Means, and Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To establish Joint Operations Centers along the southern 

border of the United States, 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 ‘‘Advanced Border Co5 ordination Act of 2025’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF JOINT OPERATIONS CENTERS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 

8 date of enactment of this Act, the Department shall estabVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Feb 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H285.IH H285

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1 lish not fewer than 2 Joint Operations Centers along the 

2 southern border of the United States to provide unified 

3 coordination centers, where law enforcement from multiple 

4 Federal, State, local, and Tribal agencies can collaborate 

5 in accordance with the purposes described in subsection 

6 (b). 

7 (b) MATTERS COVERED.—The Centers shall provide 

8 centralized operations hubs for matters related to the fol9 lowing: 

10 (1) Implementing coordination and communica11 tion for field operations between participating Fed12 eral, State, local, and Tribal agencies, as needed. 

13 (2) Coordinating operations across participating 

14 Federal, State, local, and Tribal agencies, as needed, 

15 including ground, air, and sea or amphibious oper16 ations. 

17 (3) Coordinating and supporting border oper18 ations, including deterring and detecting criminal ac19 tivity related to— 

20 (A) transnational criminal organizations; 

21 (B) illegal border crossings; 

22 (C) the seizure of weapons; 

23 (D) the seizure of drugs; 

24 (E) the seizure of high valued property; 

25 (F) terrorism; 


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1 (G) human trafficking; 

2 (H) drug trafficking; and 

3 (I) such additional matters as the Sec4 retary considers appropriate. 

5 (c) INFORMATION SHARING.—To ensure effective 

6 transmission of information between participating Fed7 eral, State, local, and Tribal agencies, for purposes of sub8 section (b), coordination and communication shall in9 clude— 

10 (1) Federal agencies sharing pertinent informa11 tion with participating State, local, and Tribal agen12 cies through the Centers; and 

13 (2) Federal agencies notifying participating 

14 State, local, and Tribal agencies of operations occur15 ring within the jurisdictions of those agencies. 

16 (d) WORKFORCE CAPABILITIES.—The Centers 

17 shall— 

18 (1) track and coordinate deployment of partici19 pating personnel; and 

20 (2) coordinate training, as needed. 

21 (e) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 

22 of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter, the 

23 Secretary shall consult with participating Federal agen24 cies, and shall seek feedback from participating State, 

25 local, and Tribal agencies, to report to Congress— 


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1 (1) a description of the efforts undertaken to 

2 establish the Centers; 

3 (2) an identification of the resources used for 

4 the operations of the Centers; 

5 (3) a description of the key operations coordi6 nated and supported by each Center; 

7 (4) a description of any significant interoper8 ability and communication gaps identified between 

9 participating Federal, State, local, and Tribal agen10 cies within each Center; 

11 (5) recommendations for improved coordination 

12 and communication between participating Federal 

13 agencies in developing and operating current and fu14 ture Centers; and 

15 (6) other data as the Secretary determines ap16 propriate. 

17 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

18 (1) CENTERS.—The term ‘‘Centers’’ means the 

19 Joint Operations Centers established under section 

20 3(a). 

21 (2) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

22 means the Department of Homeland Security. 

23 (3) PARTICIPATING FEDERAL AGENCY.—The 

24 term ‘‘participating Federal agency’’ means— 

25 (A) the Department; 


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1 (B) the Department of Defense; 

2 (C) the Department of Justice; and 

3 (D) any other Federal agency as the Sec4 retary determines appropriate. 

5 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

6 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

7 (5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each 

8 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 

9 and any territory or possession of the United States. 

Æ 


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