II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2393

To prohibit the use of racial and other discriminatory profiling in connection

with searches and detentions of individuals by the United States Customs

Service personnel, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 11, 2000

Mr. DURBIN (for himself and Mr. FEINGOLD) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To prohibit the use of racial and other discriminatory

profiling in connection with searches and detentions of

individuals by the United States Customs Service personnel, 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 ‘‘Reasonable Search

5 Standards Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:
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1 (1) During fiscal years 1997 and 1998 approxi2 mately 140,000,000 people entered the United

3 States on international flights.

4 (2) Customs Service personnel selected about

5 102,000 passengers for further inspection.

6 (3) Of the 102,000 passengers, 95 percent were

7 searched by Customs Service personnel for contra8 band or hidden weapons by patting the passenger’s

9 clothed body, 4 percent were strip searched, and 1

10 percent were subjected to an x-ray examination.

11 (4) Generally passengers of particular races and

12 gender were more likely than other passengers to be

13 subjected to more intrusive types of personal

14 searches.

15 (5) However, in some cases the types of pas16 sengers who were more likely to be subjected to

17 more intrusive personal searches were not as likely

18 to be found carrying contraband.

19 (6) African-American women were nearly 3

20 times as likely as African-American men to be strip21 searched, even though they were only half as likely

22 to be found carrying contraband.

23 (7) African-American men and women were

24 nearly 9 times as likely, and Hispanic men and

25 women were nearly 4 times as likely, as white Amer-
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1 ican men and women to be x-rayed, even though

2 they were no more likely to be found carrying con3 traband.

4 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

5 In this Act:

6 (1) CUSTOMS SERVICE PERSONNEL.—The term

7 ‘‘Customs Service personnel’’ means employees of

8 the United States Customs Service who are respon9 sible for inspecting, searching, interviewing, or ex10 amining people entering the United States.

11 (2) INTRUSIVE NONROUTINE SEARCH.—The

12 term ‘‘intrusive nonroutine search’’ means any of the

13 following actions taken to detect or remove contra14 band from a person:

15 (A) A search involving the removal of some

16 of a person’s clothing to search for merchandise

17 hidden on a person’s body, but not including re18 moval of a person’s coat, shoes, belt, or pocket

19 contents (commonly referred to as a ‘‘strip

20 search’’).

21 (B) A search involving use of a medical x22 ray to determine the presence of merchandise

23 within the body, or of other x-ray technology to

24 determine the presence of merchandise on the

25 body, including a body scan search (commonly
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1 referred to as an ‘‘x-ray search’’ or a ‘‘body

2 scan search’’).

3 (C) Any visual or physical intrusion into

4 the rectal or vaginal cavity (commonly referred

5 to as a ‘‘body cavity search’’).

6 (D) Any action to require the individual to

7 take a laxative or other similar drug.

8 (E) A monitored bowel movement.

9 (F) A surgical procedure.

10 (G) Any action similar or related to an ac11 tion described in any of subparagraphs (A)

12 through (F).

13 (3) PAT DOWN SEARCH.—The term ‘‘pat down

14 search’’ means a search that involves physical con15 tact with a person’s body or clothing to detect or re16 move contraband from the individual, but does not

17 include any of the actions described in subpara18 graphs (A) through (F) of paragraph (1).

19 (4) PROFILING.—The term ‘‘profiling’’ means

20 identifying persons entering the United States for

21 inspection, search (including intrusive nonroutine

22 searches and pat down searches), interview, or ex23 amination in whole or in part on the basis of actual

24 or perceived race, religion, gender, national origin,

25 or sexual orientation.
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1 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON RACIAL OR OTHER DISCRIMINA2 TORY PROFILING BY CUSTOMS SERVICE PER3 SONNEL.

4 Customs Service personnel shall not subject travelers

5 to detention, pat down searches, intrusive nonroutine

6 searches, or similar investigative actions, based in whole

7 or in part on the actual or perceived race, religion, gender,

8 national origin, or sexual orientation, except when Cus9 toms Service personnel are acting upon specific informa10 tion that a particular traveler suspected of engaging in

11 specific illegal activity is described by 1 or more of such

12 characteristics.

13 SEC. 5. OTHER REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO SEARCHES.

14 Before subjecting an individual to a pat down search

15 or an intrusive nonroutine search, Customs Service per16 sonnel shall document reasons to support the belief that

17 the individual may be carrying contraband in violation of

18 Federal law. The preceding requirement shall not apply

19 to a situation in which Customs Service personnel suspect

20 the individual is carrying a weapon.

21 SEC. 6. PERIODIC TRAINING OF CUSTOMS SERVICE PER22 SONNEL.

23 The Commissioner of Customs shall require all Cus24 toms Service personnel to undergo, on a periodic basis,

25 training on the procedures for identifying, detaining, and

26 searching passengers, with particular emphasis on the pro-
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1 hibition on profiling. The training shall include a review

2 of the reasons identified by Customs Service personnel for

3 certain searches under section 5, the results of the

4 searches conducted, and the effectiveness of the criteria

5 used by Customs Service personnel.

6 SEC. 7. ANNUAL STUDY AND REPORT ON DETENTIONS AND

7 SEARCHES OF INDIVIDUALS BY CUSTOMS

8 SERVICE PERSONNEL.

9 (a) STUDY.—The Commissioner of Customs shall

10 conduct a study on detentions and searches of persons by

11 Customs Service personnel during the preceding calendar

12 year. The study shall include the number of searches con13 ducted by Customs Service personnel, the race, gender,

14 and citizenship of the travelers subject to the searches,

15 the type of searches conducted (including pat down

16 searches and intrusive nonroutine searches) and the re17 sults of the searches.

18 (b) REPORT.—Not later than March 31 of each year,

19 the Commissioner of Customs shall submit to Congress

20 an annual report containing the results of the study con21 ducted under subsection (a) for the preceding calendar

22 year.
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1 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro3 priated for fiscal year 2001 and each fiscal year thereafter

4 such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act.

5 (b) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated pursuant

6 to subsection (a) shall remain available until expended.

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