Securing our Northern Border Act

Bill: 118-hr-10265
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Suozzi, Thomas R. [D-NY-3]
Introduced: 2024-11-29
Policy area: Immigration
Latest action: action_date: 2024-11-29
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement.

Summaries:

tv_txt: I 118th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 10265 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES November 29, 2024 Mr. Suozzi (for himself and Mr. Pappas ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security A BILL To establish the Department of Homeland Security Northern Border Mission Center, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Securing our Northern Border Act . 2. Department of homeland security northern border mission center (a) Establishment Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish the Department of Homeland Security Northern Border Mission Center. (b) Purpose The purpose of the Center shall be to serve as the Department’s forward deployed centralized operations support center for domain awareness, information sharing, intelligence, training, and stakeholder engagement with Federal, State, tribal, local, and international government partners along the northern border of the United States. (c) Location The Center shall be placed along the northern border at a location that is collocated with an existing U.S. Border Patrol sector headquarters, an Air and Marine Operations branch, and a United States Coast Guard air station, and other existing Department activities. (d) Components (1) In general The Center shall collocate personnel and activities of— (A) U.S. Customs and Border Protection; (B) the United States Coast Guard; (C) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations; and (D) other components and offices of the Department that the Secretary determines to be necessary, including to support the training, technology testing, and development described in subsection (e). (2) Additional personnel Additional Federal, State, tribal, local, and international government partners may be collocated as the Secretary determines to be necessary and appropriate to support the operations described in this section. (e) Functions (1) In general The Center shall perform the functions described in this subsection in addition to any other functions assigned by the Secretary. In carrying out these functions, the Center shall support the Department’s northern border security operations. (2) Northern border strategy The Center, in collaboration with relevant offices and components of the Department, shall— (A) serve as a coordination mechanism for operational components for the implementation of the Department of Homeland Security Northern Border Strategy and any successor strategy and support appropriate offices of the Department in the evaluation and updating of the Department of Homeland Security Northern Border Strategy and any successor strategy; and (B) support the development of best practices and policies for personnel at the northern border to support such implementation. (3) Training The Center shall serve as a training location to support the delivery of training or exercises for Department personnel and Federal, State, tribal, local, and international government partners. (4) Resource and technological needs and challenges The Center, in collaboration with relevant offices and components of the Department, shall— (A) identify resource and technological needs or challenges affecting security along the northern border; and (B) serve as a testing ground and demonstration location for the testing of border security technology, including determining such technology’s suitability and performance in the northern border and maritime environments. (5) Air and marine operations (A) Quick reaction capabilities In support of the Center, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations shall establish and maintain capability that is collocated with the Center and available for quick deployment in support of the northern border missions, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Department, including missions in the Great Lakes region. (B) Northern border domain awareness In order to coordinate with the Center and support its operations, the Air and Marine Operations Center shall collocate personnel and resources with the Center to enhance the Department’s capabilities to— (i) support air and maritime domain awareness and information sharing efforts along the northern border; (ii) provide dedicated monitoring of northern border systems; and (iii) lead, in coordination with other U.S. Customs and Border Protection components, Federal, State, tribal, local, and international governments, and private sector partners, the Center’s efforts to track and monitor legitimate cross-border traffic involving unmanned aircraft and unmanned aircraft systems. (6) Counter-unmanned aircraft systems (A) In general Pursuant to policies established by the Secretary, consistent with section 210G of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 ( 6 U.S.C. 124n ), the Center shall support counter-unmanned aircraft systems operations along the northern border to respond to the increased use of unmanned aircraft systems. (B) Rule of construction Nothing in this section may be construed to provide additional authority related to detection, mitigation, research, development, or testing of unmanned aircraft systems or counter-unmanned aircraft systems. (7) Privacy and civil rights The Center, in collaboration with the Chief Privacy Officer and the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of the Department, shall ensure that operations and practices of the Center comply with the privacy and civil rights policies of the Department and its components, and as necessary, ensure there are resources or personnel available to support the Center’s mission onsite. (8) Noncontiguous northern border The Center, in collaboration with relevant offices and components of the Department, shall identify the specific challenges that exist along the noncontiguous international land border with Canada and the maritime border with Russia, including resource, technological challenges, and domain awareness. (f) Annual reporting Not later than 180 days after the establishment of the Center, and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit a report, that may include a classified annex or a sensitive but unclassified annex, to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives that describes the activities of the Center during the most recently concluded fiscal year, including— (1) personnel levels; (2) additional resources that are needed to support the operations of the Center and northern border operations of the Department; and (3) any additional assets or authorities that are needed to increase security and domain awareness along the northern border. (g) Temporary duty assignments The Secretary shall submit a quarterly report to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives regarding temporary duty assignments of U.S. Border Patrol agents during the reporting period, including— (1) the number of agents on temporary duty assignment; (2) the duration of the temporary duty assignment; (3) the sectors from which the agents were assigned; and (4) the sectors to which the agents were assigned. (h) Report on large unmanned aircraft systems operations Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a report to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives on the Department’s operation of large unmanned aircraft systems. The report shall include information on existing large unmanned aircraft systems, as well as recommendations on how to enable the operations of large unmanned aircraft systems based at the Center established pursuant to subsection (a) of this section. (i) Rules of construction (1) Authority to establish center The Center established pursuant to subsection (a) shall be established separate and distinct from the Secretary’s authorities under section 708 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 ( 6 U.S.C. 348 ). (2) Commandant authority Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect, impinge, or alter any authority of the Commandant of the Coast Guard under title 14 or title 46, United States Code, or limit the Commandant’s discretion and ability to deploy Coast Guard assets and personnel. (j) Sunset This section shall cease to be effective beginning on October 1, 2027. (k) No additional funds No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated for the purpose of carrying out this section. (l) Definitions In this section: (1) Center The term Center means the Department of Homeland Security Northern Border Mission Center established pursuant to subsection (a). (2) Department The term Department means the Department of Homeland Security. (3) Northern border The term northern border means— (A) the international border between the United States and Canada; and (B) the maritime border between Alaska and the Russian Federation. (4) Secretary The term Secretary means the Secretary of Homeland Security.