IIB 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2615 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JULY 16, 2019 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 
AN ACT 
To support the people of Central America and strengthen 
United States national security by addressing the root 
causes of migration from El Salvador, Guatemala, and 
Honduras. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘United States-Northern Triangle Enhanced Engagement 
Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Report on drivers of migration from the Northern Triangle to the 
United States. 
Sec. 3. Actions to promote inclusive economic growth and development in the 
Northern Triangle. 
Sec. 4. Actions to combat corruption in the Northern Triangle. 
Sec. 5. Actions to strengthen democratic institutions in the Northern Triangle. 
Sec. 6. Actions to improve security conditions in the Northern Triangle. 
Sec. 7. Authorization of appropriations for assistance to Central America. 
Sec. 8. Conditions on assistance to the Northern Triangle. 
Sec. 9. Enhancing engagement with the Government of Mexico on the Northern 
Triangle. 
Sec. 10. Targeting assistance to address migration from communities in the 
Northern Triangle. 
Sec. 11. Targeted sanctions to fight corruption in the Northern Triangle. 
Sec. 12. Requirement to provide advance notification to Congress of security 
assistance to Northern Triangle countries. 
Sec. 13. Definitions. 
Sec. 14. Determination of budgetary effects. 
SEC. 2. REPORT ON DRIVERS OF MIGRATION FROM THE 
NORTHERN 
TRIANGLE 
TO 
THE 
UNITED 
STATES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, 
in coordination with the Administrator of the United 
States Agency for International Development and the 
heads of other relevant Federal agencies, shall submit to 
the appropriate congressional committees a report on the 
drivers of migration from each of the Northern Triangle 
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countries and the progress United States foreign assist-
ance is making in addressing such drivers. 
(b) ELEMENTS.—The report required under sub-
section (a) shall include the following elements for each 
of 
the 
Northern 
Triangle 
countries, 
with 
data 
disaggregated by municipality, age, and gender, as nec-
essary: 
(1) Information and data on all criminal activi-
ties, including drug trafficking, extortion, trafficking 
in persons, and gender-based violence, with par-
ticular emphasis on such activities carried out by 
criminal gangs and transnational criminal organiza-
tions such as MS–13 and the 18th Street Gang. 
(2) Data on the extent to which criminal activi-
ties referred to in paragraph (1) are reported to gov-
ernment authorities and the number of perpetrators 
investigated, apprehended, prosecuted, or convicted, 
versus the number of known perpetrators who are 
not so investigated, apprehended, prosecuted, or con-
victed. 
(3) Data on children and young adults forcibly 
recruited for criminal activities referred to in para-
graph (1), including the extent to which government 
authorities received reports of forced recruitment. 
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(4) Data on internal displacement due to crimi-
nal activities referred to in paragraph (1), and serv-
ices, including temporary shelters, provided to those 
displaced by violence. 
(5) Data on gender-based violence by region 
and municipality and descriptions of gender-based 
violence and domestic violence trends, including gen-
der-based violence against indigenous women, and 
correlation to outward migration. 
(6) Descriptions of the obstacles (including ca-
pacity gaps within the criminal justice systems) to 
resolving gender-based violence cases and deterring 
violence against women and children. 
(7) Information on the availability of trauma- 
informed legal and social services, including in shel-
ters, for victims of gender-based violence. 
(8) Data on the number of police officers, pros-
ecutors, court personnel, and specialized units 
trained in violence against women and children, in-
cluding data on the number of female police officers 
in each of the Northern Triangle countries. 
(9) Data on reported cases of abuse, including 
extrajudicial executions, torture, forced disappear-
ance, and arbitrary detention, allegedly committed 
by members of the security forces, and collusion be-
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tween members of such security forces and gangs 
and other criminal groups, including transnational 
criminal organizations, and the number of perpetra-
tors investigated, apprehended, prosecuted, or con-
victed, versus the number of known perpetrators not 
so investigated, apprehended, prosecuted, or con-
victed. 
(10) Descriptions of the strategies being imple-
mented to guarantee the rights of indigenous and 
rural communities. 
(11) Descriptions of the strategies being imple-
mented to address forced recruitment of children 
and youth by gangs, transnational criminal organiza-
tions, and other criminal groups, and how such 
strategies are complemented by United States ef-
forts. 
(12) Descriptions of the strategies being imple-
mented by the governments of each of the Northern 
Triangle countries to address corruption and orga-
nized crime and how such strategies are com-
plemented by United States efforts. 
(13) Data on the effectiveness of anti-corrup-
tion strategies, including through bilateral and mul-
tilateral anti-corruption assistance. 
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(14) An assessment of the extent of corruption, 
including regarding narcotics trafficking and illicit 
campaign financing, a description of steps taken and 
to be taken to impose sanctions pursuant to the 
Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act 
(22 U.S.C. 2656 note), and a list of senior officials 
who are known or credibly alleged to have committed 
or facilitated such corruption, not including individ-
uals who have already been sentenced to crimes in 
criminal courts. 
(15) Descriptions of operating conditions for 
civil society organizations and independent media in 
each of the Northern Triangle countries, and data 
on harassment and attacks on civil society and inde-
pendent media from political and criminal actors. 
(16) An assessment of information sharing re-
garding known or suspected terrorists and other in-
dividuals and groups that pose a potential threat to 
United States national security that are crossing 
through or residing in the Northern Triangle. 
(17) Descriptions of the obstacles (including ca-
pacity gaps within the criminal justice systems) to 
resolving criminal cases and corruption and deter-
ring violence. 
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(18) Data on the capacity of child welfare sys-
tems in each Northern Triangle country to protect 
unaccompanied children, including runaways and 
refugee returnees. 
(19) Data on the governance capacity of North-
ern Triangle country governments at the local and 
national level, including ability to deliver basic cit-
izen services, including tax collection and citizen se-
curity. 
(20) Data on the rates of extortion, the impact 
of extortion on local businesses and economies, and 
the number of extortion cases investigated, pros-
ecuted, or convicted. 
(21) Data on the extent to which the Northern 
Triangle governments are promoting economic 
growth and educational opportunities, improving 
health outcomes, and addressing the underlying 
causes of poverty and inequality through public poli-
cies. 
(22) Data on the activities of China and Rus-
sia, an assessment of the threat of such activities to 
United States interests, and the impact of such ac-
tivities on irregular migration. 
(23) An analysis of the manner and extent to 
which assistance made available to the Northern Tri-
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angle countries in fiscal years 2015 through 2017 
were expended, particularly including— 
(A) the extent to which funds made avail-
able to private and nongovernmental entities to 
provide such assistance were subsequently ex-
pended on activities conducted within such 
countries; and 
(B) the manner in which such funds were 
expended on activities in other countries. 
(24) Data on the geographic regions where 
highest incidence of violence occurs against women 
and children. 
(25) An evaluation of the extent to which 
women and children who are victims of violence have 
access to protection and justice. 
(26) An evaluation of the capacity of the justice 
system in each Northern Triangle country to re-
spond to reports of femicide, sexual assault, domes-
tic violence, trafficking, or child abuse and neglect, 
and to hold perpetrators of such crimes accountable. 
(c) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The report required 
under subsection (a) shall be made publicly available on 
the website of the Department of State. 
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