Biometric Identification Transnational Migration Alert Program Authorization Act of 2018
Floor Speech
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Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6439) to amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish in the Department of Homeland Security the Biometric Identification Transnational Migration Alert Program, and for other purposes.
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Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of my legislation to help protect the American people and keep our homeland safe.
We are only 1 week out from the 17th anniversary of 9/11, and a lot has changed since those four horrifying attacks, but one thing remains the same: America's enemies are always looking for new ways to sneak into our country.
Today, many special interest aliens and other nefarious actors, including potential terrorists, are exploiting illicit pathways throughout Central and South America, racing towards the border.
To combat this threat, we need to leverage our international partnerships and use advanced technology to our advantage. One of the best tools we have is ICE's Biometric Identification Transnational Migration Alert Program, otherwise known as BITMAP. BITMAP was created in 2011 by the Obama administration and is utilized on five different continents.
Through this program, trained and vetted law enforcement officers collect biometric and biographic data on potentially dangerous individuals traveling through their country. The collected data is then shared with American law enforcement, the Department of Defense, and intelligence agencies. This vital information helps us enrich our databases, map illicit pathways, exploit networks, and learn about individuals looking to bring harm.
In the last few years, BITMAP has identified several hundred known or suspected terrorists. Top national security officials from DOD and DHS have testified to its success. For example, former Acting Director of ICE, Thomas Homan, told me at a recent hearing: ``People that were known terrorists had been turned around in Panama and sent back before reaching our shores. . . .'' BITMAP ``has already proven successful.'' And that is according to the former Director of ICE.
BITMAP does not just ID suspected terrorists, however. It also identifies drug smugglers, sex offenders, murderers, child predators, gang members like MS-13, and people with active warrants and other dangerous backgrounds.
My bill will enhance American and foreign law enforcement's ability to keep our citizens safe by identifying threats at the earliest possible stage. Simply put, it will help stop dangerous individuals who want to bring harm to the American people.
Threats to America, whether through terrorism, human trafficking, or deadly opioids, continue to grow, and we must do everything we can to stop them.
I am proud this legislation passed out of our committee with bipartisan support, and I want to thank Congressman Bill Keating for all of his work on this issue.
Passing this important legislation through the House is a simple step we can take to make our homeland more secure, and I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill.
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Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I have tremendous respect for the gentleman from Mississippi, but I do have to respectfully disagree with some of his assertions. First of all, this program, BITMAP, was started 7 years ago under the Obama administration. And over the last 7 years, we have obtained sufficient data that would verify the success of the program.
In fact, I can't get into the classified nature of the program. Suffice it to say that we stopped hundreds of known or suspected terrorists from entering the United States under this tried-and-true program.
The Secretary testified before our committee that, on average, 19 known or suspected terrorists try to enter the United States every day. Our solemn obligation is to protect the American people from the threats that we see outside of the United States and do everything we can to stop them from getting into the United States.
What the 9/11 Commission talked about in its report about travel and keeping bad people and bad things out of the United States, is the reason this committee was formed in the first place. And we have heard the stories about ISIS in written materials encouraging followers to cross our southwest border. We talked about the 9/11 Commission. We talked about terrorists' travel strategies. This is one of those strategies, one of those programs that I believe the 9/11 Commission was talking about.
Why not use the best technology we have and use biometrics to identify known or suspected terrorists, MS-13 gang members, child predators, opioid traffickers, all of the bad stuff that can come into this country. When Border Patrol tells me we only know 50 percent of what is coming into the country, why would we not want to use the most innovative technology so that when someone enters this hemisphere under one name and gets up to the Mexico border under another name--just like in the Mollie Tibbetts' killing, slaying, where someone came into the country and changed their identity. This stops the changing of identity up the road into the United States.
Why? Biometrics don't lie. You are who you are. And we know who they are through the great, best technology we have available today. So I believe that being opposed to this legislation really puts the American people at harm.
I hope I am wrong in saying this, because I never want politics to enter this committee: National security should never be political. The terrorists don't check our partisan affiliation. But my concern is that because ICE is in this bill, we are drawing opposition.
Madam Speaker, this is one of the best programs that ICE administers, created under the Obama administration. It deserves and it has earned to be fully authorized by the United States Congress, and I ask that all of my colleagues support this measure.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
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