II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3892 

To reduce the number of deaths along the border between the United States 

and Mexico by improving the placement of rescue beacons, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 14, 2006 

Mr. FRIST (for himself, Mr. MCCAIN, and Mrs. HUTCHISON) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the 

Judiciary 

A BILL 

To reduce the number of deaths along the border between 

the United States and Mexico by improving the placement of rescue beacons, 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 Death Reduc5 tion Act of 2006’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF A RESCUE BEACON. 

7 In this Act, the term ‘‘rescue beacon’’ means a clearly 

8 visible device with an internal power source that is placed 

9 in an area likely to experience extreme weather, that conVerDate Aug 31 2005 06:32 Sep 19, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3892.IS S3892

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1 tains instructions for its use, and by means of lights, radio 

2 signals, and other means, allows individuals to alert the 

3 United States Customs and Border Protection of their 

4 presence. 

5 SEC. 3. COLLECTION OF STATISTICS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

7 date of the enactment of this Act, the Commissioner of 

8 Customs shall begin collecting data relevant to deaths oc9 curring at the border between the United States and Mex10 ico, divided by sector, and including— 

11 (1) the causes of the deaths; 

12 (2) the total number of deaths; 

13 (3) the location of deaths; and 

14 (4) demographic characteristics, including the 

15 sex and approximate age of those deceased. 

16 (b) DEVELOPMENT OF PROTOCOLS.—The Commis17 sioner of Customs shall develop consistent, formal, written 

18 protocols for the collection of data described in subsection 

19 (a). 

20 SEC. 4. ANNUAL REPORT ON BORDER DEATHS. 

21 Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 

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

23 Customs shall submit to the Secretary of Homeland Secu24 rity a report that contains— 


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1 (1) an analysis of trends with respect to the 

2 statistics collected under section (3)(a)(1) during the 

3 preceding year; 

4 (2) an evaluation, using multivariate statistical 

5 approaches, of the Border Safety Initiative, includ6 ing any rescue beacons deployed, and any successor 

7 program designed to reduce deaths along the border 

8 described in section 3(a); and 

9 (3) recommendations of particular actions to re10 duce the deaths described in section 3(a). 

11 SEC. 5. REPORT ON BEACON PLACEMENT. 

12 (a) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 6 months 

13 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commis14 sioner of Customs shall submit to the Secretary of Home15 land Security a report on enhancing the deployment of res16 cue beacons. 

17 (b) FOCUS OF REPORT.—Such report shall contain 

18 particular emphasis on enhancing the deployment of res19 cue beacons in the Tucson Sector. 

20 (c) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—The report required by 

21 subsection (a) shall include— 

22 (1) an assessment of the efficacy of the deploy23 ment of rescue beacons in light of the statistics 

24 gathered under section 3, including analysis of the 


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1 locations of deaths recorded and areas frequented by 

2 illegal migrants; and 

3 (2) recommendations on where additional res4 cue beacons should be placed to reduce the number 

5 of deaths in the area described by section 3 and sec6 tion 5(b). 

7 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

8 are authorized to be appropriated $500,000 to carry out 

9 the provisions of this section. 

10 SEC. 6. DEPLOYMENT OF ENHANCED BEACON NETWORK. 

11 (a) DEPLOYMENT OF RESCUE BEACONS.—Not later 

12 than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

13 the Commissioner of Customs shall deploy additional res14 cue beacons in all areas recommended in the report re15 quired by section 5. 

16 (b) GUIDELINES FOR PLACEMENT OF RESCUE BEA17 CONS.—Not later than 1 year after the date of the enact18 ment of this Act, the Commissioner of Customs shall issue 

19 to all sector chiefs formal, written guidelines for the ongo20 ing placement and removal of rescue beacons and the ap21 propriate response to the activation of such beacons. 

22 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

23 are authorized to be appropriated $1,500,000 to carry out 

24 the provisions of this section. 


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1 SEC. 7. PROHIBITION ON ABANDONMENT OF ALIENS IN A 

2 BORDER ZONE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any person who commits an act 

4 described in section 274(a)(1)(A) of the Immigration and 

5 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324(a)(1)(A)) and abandons 

6 an alien with respect to that act in a place not within sight 

7 of a paved road or rescue beacon, shall be considered to 

8 have placed in jeopardy the life of a person as described 

9 in section 274(a)(1)(B)(iii) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 

10 1324(a)(1)(B)(iii)). 

11 (b) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section shall be 

12 construed to prohibit any person from being held in viola13 tion of section 274(a)(1)(B)(iii) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 

14 1324 (B)(iii)). 

Æ 


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