McSally Introduces Bipartisan Legislation to Detect and Deter Illicit Entry into the United States

Statement

U.S. Senator Martha McSally (R-AZ) introduced legislation today to detect and deter illicit entry of criminals into the United States. Congressman Michael McCaul (R-TX-10), Republican Leader of the Foreign Affairs Committee and Former Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

"Criminals attempt to violate our nation's borders every day and enter our country undetected," said McSally. "We must provide every tool necessary to detect bad actors before they reach our borders to protect our communities. The ICE BITMAP program is a proven data sharing mechanism to provide intelligence across our borders and is an example of true bilateral cooperation to identify known or suspected terrorists and criminals on their journey to the U.S."

"Terror threats are constantly evolving, and our adversaries are becoming more agile and elusive," said McCaul. "Specifically, they are exploiting the illicit pathways in South and Central America to gain access to our nation. To combat this threat, we must leverage our international partnerships and use the most advanced technology to our advantage.

"ICE's BITMAP program shares valuable data from law enforcement officers in participating countries with our own law enforcement and intelligence agencies. In the last few years alone, BITMAP has identified several hundred known or suspected terrorists in addition to criminals, drug smugglers, human traffickers, murderers, child predators, and dangerous gangs like MS-13.

"It is critical that DHS and its partners have every tool necessary to protect American citizens and I am glad to introduce this legislation with Senator McSally, a former colleague of mine on the House Homeland Security Committee. I look forward to reviewing this bipartisan legislation in committee and getting it to the floor, so we can improve our intelligence sharing capabilities and better protect our homeland."

The Biometric Identification Migration Alert Program (BITMAP) is a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Homeland Security Investigations (ICE/HSI)-led program established in 2011 under then-President Obama. The program allows partner-country law enforcement officers to collect and share biometric and biographic data on special interest individuals to identify potential threat actors who utilize illicit pathways to enter the United States.

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