II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2174 

To expand the grants authorized under Jennifer’s Law and Kristen’s Act 

to include processing of unidentified remains, resolving missing persons 

cases, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 18, 2019 

Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. TILLIS, and Mr. UDALL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To expand the grants authorized under Jennifer’s Law and 

Kristen’s Act to include processing of unidentified remains, resolving missing persons cases, 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 ‘‘Missing Persons and 

5 Unidentified Remains Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. USE OF GRANT FUNDS. 

7 (a) JENNIFER’S LAW.—Jennifer’s Law (34 U.S.C. 

8 40501 et seq.) is amended— 


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1 (1) by striking section 202 (34 U.S.C. 40501) 

2 and inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 202. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 

4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

5 ‘‘(1) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Attorney 

6 General may award grants to eligible entities de7 scribed in paragraph (2), with priority given to eligi8 ble entities in southern border States, to enable the 

9 eligible entities to improve the transportation, proc10 essing, identification, and reporting of missing per11 sons and unidentified remains, including migrants. 

12 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—Eligible entities de13 scribed in this paragraph are the following: 

14 ‘‘(A) States and units of local government. 

15 ‘‘(B) Accredited, publicly funded, Com16 bined DNA Index System (commonly known as 

17 ‘CODIS’) forensic laboratories, which dem18 onstrate the grant funds will be used for DNA 

19 typing and uploading biological family DNA 

20 reference samples, including samples from for21 eign nationals, into CODIS, subject to the pro22 tocols for inclusion of such forensic DNA pro23 files into CODIS, and the privacy protections 

24 required under section 203(c). 

25 ‘‘(C) Medical examiners offices. 


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1 ‘‘(D) Accredited, publicly funded toxicology 

2 laboratories. 

3 ‘‘(E) Accredited, publicly funded crime lab4 oratories. 

5 ‘‘(F) Publicly funded university forensic 

6 anthropology laboratories. 

7 ‘‘(G) Nonprofit organizations that have 

8 working collaborative agreements with State 

9 and county forensic offices, including medical 

10 examiners, coroners, and justices of the peace, 

11 for entry of data into CODIS or the National 

12 Missing and Unidentified Persons System (com13 monly known as ‘NamUs’), or both.’’; 

14 (2) in section 203 (34 U.S.C. 40502)— 

15 (A) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘a State’’ 

16 and inserting ‘‘an entity described in section 

17 202’’; 

18 (B) in subsection (b)— 

19 (i) in the matter preceding paragraph 

20 (1), by striking ‘‘State’’ and inserting ‘‘ap21 plicant’’; 

22 (ii) by striking paragraph (1) and in23 serting the following: 

24 ‘‘(1) report to the National Crime Information 

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1 thorities throughout the applicant’s jurisdiction re2 garding every deceased unidentified person, regard3 less of age, found in the applicant’s jurisdiction;’’; 

4 (iii) in paragraph (3), by striking 

5 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

6 (iv) in paragraph (4), by striking the 

7 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 

8 and 

9 (v) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(5) collect and report information to the Na11 tional Missing and Unidentified Persons System 

12 (NamUs) regarding missing persons and unidenti13 fied remains.’’; and 

14 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(c) PRIVACY PROTECTIONS FOR BIOLOGICAL FAM16 ILY REFERENCE SAMPLES.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any suspected biological 

18 family DNA reference samples received from citizens 

19 of the United States or foreign nationals and 

20 uploaded into the Combined DNA Index System 

21 (commonly referred to as ‘CODIS’) by an accredited, 

22 publicly funded CODIS forensic laboratory awarded 

23 a grant under this section may be used only for 

24 identifying missing persons and unidentified re25 mains. 


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1 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON USE.—Any biological fam2 ily DNA reference samples from citizens of the 

3 United States or foreign nationals entered into 

4 CODIS for purposes of identifying missing persons 

5 and unidentified remains may not be disclosed to a 

6 Federal or State law enforcement agency for law en7 forcement purposes.’’; and 

8 (3) by striking section 204 (34 U.S.C. 40503) 

9 and inserting the following: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 205. USE OF FUNDS. 

11 ‘‘An applicant receiving a grant award under this title 

12 may use such funds to— 

13 ‘‘(1) pay for the costs incurred during or after 

14 fiscal year 2017 for the transportation, processing, 

15 identification, and reporting of missing persons and 

16 unidentified remains, including migrants; 

17 ‘‘(2) establish and expand programs developed 

18 to improve the reporting of unidentified persons in 

19 accordance with the assurances provided in the ap20 plication submitted pursuant to section 203(b); 

21 ‘‘(3) hire and maintain additional DNA case 

22 analysts and technicians, fingerprint examiners, fo23 rensic odontologists, and forensic anthropologists, 

24 needed to support such identification programs; and 


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1 ‘‘(4) procure and maintain state of the art 

2 multi-modal, multi-purpose forensic and DNA-typing 

3 and analytical equipment.’’. 

4 (b) KRISTEN’S ACT.—Section 3 of Kristen’s Act (34 

5 U.S.C. 40504 note) is amended to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDING. 

7 ‘‘The Attorney General is authorized to use funds 

8 otherwise appropriated for the operationalization, mainte9 nance, and expansion of the National Missing and Uniden10 tified Persons System (NamUs) for the purpose of car11 rying out this Act.’’. 

12 SEC. 3. RESCUE BEACONS. 

13 Section 411(o) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 

14 (6 U.S.C. 211(o)) is amended by adding at the end the 

15 following: 

16 ‘‘(3) RESCUE BEACONS.—Beginning in fiscal 

17 year 2019, in carrying out subsection (c)(8), the 

18 Commissioner shall purchase, deploy, and maintain 

19 not more than 170 self-powering, 9–1–1 cellular 

20 relay rescue beacons along the southern border of 

21 the United States at locations determined appro22 priate by the Commissioner to mitigate migrant 

23 deaths.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. REPORTING ON NATIONAL MISSING AND UNIDENTI2 FIED PERSONS SYSTEM (NAMUS) PROGRAM. 

3 Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment 

4 of this act, and every year thereafter, the Attorney Gen5 eral shall submit a report to the appropriate committees 

6 of Congress regarding— 

7 (1) the number of unidentified person cases 

8 processed; 

9 (2) CODIS associations and identifications; 

10 (3) the number of anthropology cases processed; 

11 (4) the number of suspected border crossing 

12 cases and associations made; 

13 (5) the number of trials supported with expert 

14 testimony; 

15 (6) the number of students trained and profes16 sions of those students; and 

17 (7) the turnaround time and backlog. 

18 SEC. 5. OTHER REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

19 (a) UNIDENTIFIED REMAINS.— 

20 (1) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 

21 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and 

22 annually thereafter, the Commissioner of U.S. Cus23 toms and Border Protection shall submit a report to 

24 the appropriate committees of Congress regarding 

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1 porting period, on or near the border between the 

2 United States and Mexico, including— 

3 (A) for each deceased person— 

4 (i) the cause and manner of death, if 

5 known; 

6 (ii) the sex, age (at time of death), 

7 and country of origin (if such information 

8 is determinable); and 

9 (iii) the location of each unidentified 

10 remain; 

11 (B) the total number of deceased people 

12 whose unidentified remains were discovered by 

13 U.S. Customs and Border Protection during the 

14 reporting period; 

15 (C) to the extent such information is avail16 able to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 

17 the total number of deceased people whose un18 identified remains were discovered by Federal, 

19 State, local or Tribal law enforcement officers, 

20 military personnel, or medical examiners offices; 

21 (D) the efforts of U.S. Customs and Bor22 der Protection to engage with nongovernmental 

23 organizations, institutions of higher education, 

24 medical examiners and coroners, and law en25 forcement agencies— 


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1 (i) to identify and map the locations 

2 at which migrant deaths occur; and 

3 (ii) to count the number of deaths 

4 that occur at such locations; and 

5 (E) a detailed description of U.S. Customs 

6 and Border Protection’s Missing Migrant Pro7 gram, including how the program helps mitigate 

8 migrant deaths while maintaining border secu9 rity. 

10 (2) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.—Not later than 30 

11 days after each report required under paragraph (1) 

12 is submitted, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and 

13 Border Protection shall publish on the website of the 

14 agency the information described in subparagraphs 

15 (A), (B), and (C) of paragraph (1) during each re16 porting period. 

17 (b) RESCUE BEACONS.—Not later than 1 year after 

18 the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 

19 the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection 

20 shall submit a report to the appropriate committees of 

21 Congress regarding the use of rescue beacons along the 

22 border between the United States and Mexico, including, 

23 for the reporting period— 

24 (1) the number of rescue beacons in each bor25 der patrol sector; 


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1 (2) the specific location of each rescue beacon; 

2 (3) the frequency with which each rescue bea3 con was activated by a person in distress; 

4 (4) a description of the nature of the distress 

5 that resulted in each rescue beacon activation (if 

6 such information is determinable); and 

7 (5) an assessment, in consultation with local 

8 stakeholders, including elected officials, nongovern9 mental organizations, and landowners, of necessary 

10 additional rescue beacons and recommendations for 

11 locations for deployment to reduce migrant deaths. 

12 (c) GAO REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after 

13 the report required under subsection (a) is submitted to 

14 the appropriate committees of Congress, the Comptroller 

15 General of the United States shall submit a report to the 

16 same committees that describes— 

17 (1) how U.S. Customs and Border Protection 

18 collects and records border-crossing death data; 

19 (2) the differences (if any) in U.S. Customs and 

20 Border Protection border-crossing death data collec21 tion methodology across its sectors; 

22 (3) how U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s 

23 data and statistical analysis on trends in the num24 bers, locations, causes, and characteristics of border25 crossing deaths compare to other sources of data on 


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1 these deaths, including border county medical exam2 iners and coroners and the Centers for Disease Con3 trol and Prevention; 

4 (4) how U.S. Customs and Border Protection 

5 measures the effectiveness of its programs to miti6 gate migrant deaths; and 

7 (5) the extent to which U.S. Customs and Bor8 der Protection engages Federal, State, local, and 

9 Tribal governments, foreign diplomatic and consular 

10 posts, and nongovernmental organizations— 

11 (A) to accurately identify deceased individ12 uals; 

13 (B) to resolve cases involving unidentified 

14 remains; 

15 (C) to resolve cases involving unidentified 

16 persons; and 

17 (D) to share information on missing per18 sons and unidentified remains, specifically with 

19 the National Missing and Unidentified Persons 

20 System (NamUs). 

Æ 


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