116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2174 

AN ACT 

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, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Missing Persons and 

3 Unidentified Remains Act of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. USE OF GRANT FUNDS. 

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

6 40501 et seq.) is amended— 

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

8 and inserting the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 202. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

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

12 General may award grants to eligible entities de13 scribed in paragraph (2) to enable the eligible enti14 ties to improve the transportation, processing, iden15 tification, and reporting of missing persons and un16 identified remains, including migrants. 

17 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—Eligible entities de18 scribed in this paragraph are the following: 

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

20 ‘‘(B) Accredited, publicly funded, Com21 bined DNA Index System (commonly known as 

22 ‘CODIS’) forensic laboratories, which dem23 onstrate the grant funds will be used for DNA 

24 typing and uploading biological family DNA 

25 reference samples, including samples from for26 eign nationals, into CODIS, subject to the pro-
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1 tocols for inclusion of such forensic DNA pro2 files into CODIS, and the privacy protections 

3 required under section 203(c). 

4 ‘‘(C) Medical examiners offices. 

5 ‘‘(D) Accredited, publicly funded toxicology 

6 laboratories. 

7 ‘‘(E) Accredited, publicly funded crime lab8 oratories. 

9 ‘‘(F) Publicly funded university forensic 

10 anthropology laboratories. 

11 ‘‘(G) Nonprofit organizations that have 

12 working collaborative agreements with State 

13 and county forensic offices, including medical 

14 examiners, coroners, and justices of the peace, 

15 for entry of data into CODIS or the National 

16 Missing and Unidentified Persons System (com17 monly known as ‘NamUs’), or both.’’; 

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

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

20 and inserting ‘‘an entity described in section 

21 202’’; 

22 (B) in subsection (b)— 

23 (i) in the matter preceding paragraph 

24 (1), by striking ‘‘State’’ and inserting ‘‘ap25 plicant’’; 
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1 (ii) by striking paragraph (1) and in2 serting the following: 

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

4 Center and, when possible, to law enforcement au5 thorities throughout the applicant’s jurisdiction re6 garding every deceased unidentified person, regard7 less of age, found in the applicant’s jurisdiction;’’; 

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

9 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

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

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

12 and 

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

14 ‘‘(5) collect and report information to the Na15 tional Missing and Unidentified Persons System 

16 (NamUs) regarding missing persons and unidenti17 fied remains.’’; and 

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

19 ‘‘(c) PRIVACY PROTECTIONS FOR BIOLOGICAL FAM20 ILY REFERENCE SAMPLES.— 

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

22 family DNA reference samples received from citizens 

23 of the United States or foreign nationals and 

24 uploaded into the Combined DNA Index System 

25 (commonly referred to as ‘CODIS’) by an accredited, 
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1 publicly funded CODIS forensic laboratory awarded 

2 a grant under this section may be used only for 

3 identifying missing persons and unidentified re4 mains. 

5 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON USE.—Any biological fam6 ily DNA reference samples from citizens of the 

7 United States or foreign nationals entered into 

8 CODIS for purposes of identifying missing persons 

9 and unidentified remains may not be disclosed to a 

10 Federal or State law enforcement agency for law en11 forcement purposes.’’; and 

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

13 and inserting the following: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 205. USE OF FUNDS. 

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

16 may use such funds to— 

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

18 fiscal year 2017 for the transportation, processing, 

19 identification, and reporting of missing persons and 

20 unidentified remains, including migrants; 

21 ‘‘(2) establish and expand programs developed 

22 to improve the reporting of unidentified persons in 

23 accordance with the assurances provided in the ap24 plication submitted pursuant to section 203(b); 
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1 ‘‘(3) hire and maintain additional DNA case 

2 analysts and technicians, fingerprint examiners, fo3 rensic odontologists, and forensic anthropologists, 

4 needed to support such identification programs; and 

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

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

7 and analytical equipment.’’. 

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

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

10 ‘‘SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDING. 

11 ‘‘The Attorney General is authorized to use funds 

12 otherwise appropriated for the operationalization, mainte13 nance, and expansion of the National Missing and Uniden14 tified Persons System (NamUs) for the purpose of car15 rying out this Act.’’. 

16 SEC. 3. RESCUE BEACONS. 

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

18 (6 U.S.C. 211(o)) is amended by adding at the end the 

19 following: 

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

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

22 Commissioner shall purchase, deploy, and maintain 

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

24 relay rescue beacons along the southern border of 

25 the United States at locations determined appro-
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1 priate by the Commissioner to mitigate migrant 

2 deaths.’’. 

3 SEC. 4. REPORTING ON NATIONAL MISSING AND UNIDENTI4 FIED PERSONS SYSTEM (NAMUS) PROGRAM. 

5 Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment 

6 of this act, and every year thereafter, the Attorney Gen7 eral shall submit a report to the appropriate committees 

8 of Congress regarding— 

9 (1) the number of unidentified person cases 

10 processed; 

11 (2) CODIS associations and identifications; 

12 (3) the number of anthropology cases processed; 

13 (4) the number of suspected border crossing 

14 cases and associations made; 

15 (5) the number of trials supported with expert 

16 testimony; 

17 (6) the number of students trained and profes18 sions of those students; and 

19 (7) the turnaround time and backlog. 

20 SEC. 5. OTHER REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

21 (a) UNIDENTIFIED REMAINS.— 

22 (1) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 

23 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and 

24 annually thereafter, the Commissioner of U.S. Cus25 toms and Border Protection shall submit a report to 
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1 the appropriate committees of Congress regarding 

2 all unidentified remains discovered, during the re3 porting period, on or near the border between the 

4 United States and Mexico, including— 

5 (A) for each deceased person— 

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

7 known; 

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

9 and country of origin (if such information 

10 is determinable); and 

11 (iii) the location of each unidentified 

12 remain; 

13 (B) the total number of deceased people 

14 whose unidentified remains were discovered by 

15 U.S. Customs and Border Protection during the 

16 reporting period; 

17 (C) to the extent such information is avail18 able to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 

19 the total number of deceased people whose un20 identified remains were discovered by Federal, 

21 State, local or Tribal law enforcement officers, 

22 military personnel, or medical examiners offices; 

23 (D) the efforts of U.S. Customs and Bor24 der Protection to engage with nongovernmental 

25 organizations, institutions of higher education, 
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1 medical examiners and coroners, and law en2 forcement agencies— 

3 (i) to identify and map the locations 

4 at which migrant deaths occur; and 

5 (ii) to count the number of deaths 

6 that occur at such locations; and 

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

8 and Border Protection’s Missing Migrant Pro9 gram, including how the program helps mitigate 

10 migrant deaths while maintaining border secu11 rity. 

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

13 days after each report required under paragraph (1) 

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

15 Border Protection shall publish on the website of the 

16 agency the information described in subparagraphs 

17 (A), (B), and (C) of paragraph (1) during each re18 porting period. 

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

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

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

22 shall submit a report to the appropriate committees of 

23 Congress regarding the use of rescue beacons along the 

24 border between the United States and Mexico, including, 

25 for the reporting period— 
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1 (1) the number of rescue beacons in each bor2 der patrol sector; 

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

4 (3) the frequency with which each rescue bea5 con was activated by a person in distress; 

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

7 that resulted in each rescue beacon activation (if 

8 such information is determinable); and 

9 (5) an assessment, in consultation with local 

10 stakeholders, including elected officials, nongovern11 mental organizations, and landowners, of necessary 

12 additional rescue beacons and recommendations for 

13 locations for deployment to reduce migrant deaths. 

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

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

16 the appropriate committees of Congress, the Comptroller 

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

18 same committees that describes— 

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

20 collects and records border-crossing death data; 

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

22 Border Protection border-crossing death data collec23 tion methodology across its sectors; 

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

25 data and statistical analysis on trends in the num-
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1 bers, locations, causes, and characteristics of border2 crossing deaths compare to other sources of data on 

3 these deaths, including border county medical exam4 iners and coroners and the Centers for Disease Con5 trol and Prevention; 

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

7 measures the effectiveness of its programs to miti8 gate migrant deaths; and 

9 (5) the extent to which U.S. Customs and Bor10 der Protection engages Federal, State, local, and 

11 Tribal governments, foreign diplomatic and consular 

12 posts, and nongovernmental organizations— 

13 (A) to accurately identify deceased individ14 uals; 

15 (B) to resolve cases involving unidentified 

16 remains; 

17 (C) to resolve cases involving unidentified 

18 persons; and 

19 (D) to share information on missing per20 sons and unidentified remains, specifically with 
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1 the National Missing and Unidentified Persons 

2 System (NamUs). 

Passed the Senate November 16, 2020. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2174 

AN ACT 

To expand the grants authorized under Jennifer’s 

cases, and for other purposes. unidentified remains, resolving missing persons Law and Kristen’s Act to include processing of