I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2579 
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify that the Secretary 
of Homeland Security may waive certain environmental requirements 
to permit U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration 
and Customs Enforcement to search for unlawful border crossing tunnels 
on private land to prevent the illegal entry of aliens into the United 
States, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 15, 2021 
Mrs. HARTZLER (for herself, Mr. CRAWFORD, Mr. BABIN, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. 
ROUZER, Mrs. WAGNER, Mrs. HINSON, Mr. CRENSHAW, and Mr. 
BROOKS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Homeland Security, and in addition to the Committee on the 
Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify 
that the Secretary of Homeland Security may waive cer-
tain environmental requirements to permit U.S. Customs 
and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Cus-
toms Enforcement to search for unlawful border crossing 
tunnels on private land to prevent the illegal entry of 
aliens into the United States, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:43 Jun 02, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2579.IH
H2579
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Eradicate Crossing of 
Illegal Tunnels Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘EXIT Act of 2021’’. 
SEC. 2. UNLAWFUL BORDER CROSSING TUNNEL SEARCH 
AND REMEDIATION. 
(a) WAIVER AUTHORITY
OF CERTAIN ENVIRON-
MENTAL REQUIREMENTS REGARDING TUNNEL ACTIONS 
ON PRIVATE LAND.—Section 287 of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1357) is amended by adding 
at the end the following new subsection: 
‘‘(i) WAIVER AUTHORITY
OF CERTAIN ENVIRON-
MENTAL REQUIREMENTS REGARDING TUNNEL ACTIONS 
ON PRIVATE LAND.—Notwithstanding any other provision 
of law, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall have the 
authority to waive all requirements relating to Federal, 
State, or local environmental permits and reviews such 
Secretary, in such Secretary’s sole discretion, determines 
necessary to search for and remediate unlawful border 
crossing tunnels under subsection (a)(3). Any such deci-
sion by the Secretary shall be effective upon being pub-
lished in the Federal Register.’’. 
(b) CONTRACT AUTHORITY.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—To search for and remediate 
unlawful border crossing tunnels in accordance with 
section 287 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
(8 U.S.C. 1357), the Commissioner of U.S. Customs 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:43 Jun 02, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2579.IH
H2579
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
and Border Protection and the Director of U.S. Im-
migration and Customs Enforcement are authorized 
to enter into indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity 
contracts. 
(2) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 
‘‘indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract’’ 
means a contract that is entered into by the head of 
a Federal agency with two or more sources pursuant 
to the same solicitation. 
(c) CLARIFICATION REGARDING ACTIONS ON PRI-
VATE LAND.—Paragraph (3) of section 287(a) of the Im-
migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1357(a)) is 
amended by inserting ‘‘, including to search for and reme-
diate unlawful border crossing tunnels,’’ after ‘‘patrolling 
the border’’. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:43 Jun 02, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H2579.IH
H2579
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS