United States-Northern Triangle Enhanced Engagement Act

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- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2615.RFS H2615 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 HR 2615 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 2 ‘‘United States-Northern Triangle Enhanced Engagement 3 Act’’. 4 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 5 this Act is as follows: 6 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 7 NORTHERN TRIANGLE TO THE UNITED 8 STATES. 9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 10 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, 11 in coordination with the Administrator of the United 12 States Agency for International Development and the 13 heads of other relevant Federal agencies, shall submit to 14 the appropriate congressional committees a report on the 15 drivers of migration from each of the Northern Triangle 16 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2615.RFS H2615 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 HR 2615 RFS countries and the progress United States foreign assist- 1 ance is making in addressing such drivers. 2 (b) ELEMENTS.—The report required under sub- 3 section (a) shall include the following elements for each 4 of the Northern Triangle countries, with data 5 disaggregated by municipality, age, and gender, as nec- 6 essary: 7 (1) Information and data on all criminal activi- 8 ties, including drug trafficking, extortion, trafficking 9 in persons, and gender-based violence, with par- 10 ticular emphasis on such activities carried out by 11 criminal gangs and transnational criminal organiza- 12 tions such as MS–13 and the 18th Street Gang. 13 (2) Data on the extent to which criminal activi- 14 ties referred to in paragraph (1) are reported to gov- 15 ernment authorities and the number of perpetrators 16 investigated, apprehended, prosecuted, or convicted, 17 versus the number of known perpetrators who are 18 not so investigated, apprehended, prosecuted, or con- 19 victed. 20 (3) Data on children and young adults forcibly 21 recruited for criminal activities referred to in para- 22 graph (1), including the extent to which government 23 authorities received reports of forced recruitment. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2615.RFS H2615 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 HR 2615 RFS (4) Data on internal displacement due to crimi- 1 nal activities referred to in paragraph (1), and serv- 2 ices, including temporary shelters, provided to those 3 displaced by violence. 4 (5) Data on gender-based violence by region 5 and municipality and descriptions of gender-based 6 violence and domestic violence trends, including gen- 7 der-based violence against indigenous women, and 8 correlation to outward migration. 9 (6) Descriptions of the obstacles (including ca- 10 pacity gaps within the criminal justice systems) to 11 resolving gender-based violence cases and deterring 12 violence against women and children. 13 (7) Information on the availability of trauma- 14 informed legal and social services, including in shel- 15 ters, for victims of gender-based violence. 16 (8) Data on the number of police officers, pros- 17 ecutors, court personnel, and specialized units 18 trained in violence against women and children, in- 19 cluding data on the number of female police officers 20 in each of the Northern Triangle countries. 21 (9) Data on reported cases of abuse, including 22 extrajudicial executions, torture, forced disappear- 23 ance, and arbitrary detention, allegedly committed 24 by members of the security forces, and collusion be- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2615.RFS H2615 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 HR 2615 RFS tween members of such security forces and gangs 1 and other criminal groups, including transnational 2 criminal organizations, and the number of perpetra- 3 tors investigated, apprehended, prosecuted, or con- 4 victed, versus the number of known perpetrators not 5 so investigated, apprehended, prosecuted, or con- 6 victed. 7 (10) Descriptions of the strategies being imple- 8 mented to guarantee the rights of indigenous and 9 rural communities. 10 (11) Descriptions of the strategies being imple- 11 mented to address forced recruitment of children 12 and youth by gangs, transnational criminal organiza- 13 tions, and other criminal groups, and how such 14 strategies are complemented by United States ef- 15 forts. 16 (12) Descriptions of the strategies being imple- 17 mented by the governments of each of the Northern 18 Triangle countries to address corruption and orga- 19 nized crime and how such strategies are com- 20 plemented by United States efforts. 21 (13) Data on the effectiveness of anti-corrup- 22 tion strategies, including through bilateral and mul- 23 tilateral anti-corruption assistance. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2615.RFS H2615 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 HR 2615 RFS (14) An assessment of the extent of corruption, 1 including regarding narcotics trafficking and illicit 2 campaign financing, a description of steps taken and 3 to be taken to impose sanctions pursuant to the 4 Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act 5 (22 U.S.C. 2656 note), and a list of senior officials 6 who are known or credibly alleged to have committed 7 or facilitated such corruption, not including individ- 8 uals who have already been sentenced to crimes in 9 criminal courts. 10 (15) Descriptions of operating conditions for 11 civil society organizations and independent media in 12 each of the Northern Triangle countries, and data 13 on harassment and attacks on civil society and inde- 14 pendent media from political and criminal actors. 15 (16) An assessment of information sharing re- 16 garding known or suspected terrorists and other in- 17 dividuals and groups that pose a potential threat to 18 United States national security that are crossing 19 through or residing in the Northern Triangle. 20 (17) Descriptions of the obstacles (including ca- 21 pacity gaps within the criminal justice systems) to 22 resolving criminal cases and corruption and deter- 23 ring violence. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2615.RFS H2615 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 HR 2615 RFS (18) Data on the capacity of child welfare sys- 1 tems in each Northern Triangle country to protect 2 unaccompanied children, including runaways and 3 refugee returnees. 4 (19) Data on the governance capacity of North- 5 ern Triangle country governments at the local and 6 national level, including ability to deliver basic cit- 7 izen services, including tax collection and citizen se- 8 curity. 9 (20) Data on the rates of extortion, the impact 10 of extortion on local businesses and economies, and 11 the number of extortion cases investigated, pros- 12 ecuted, or convicted. 13 (21) Data on the extent to which the Northern 14 Triangle governments are promoting economic 15 growth and educational opportunities, improving 16 health outcomes, and addressing the underlying 17 causes of poverty and inequality through public poli- 18 cies. 19 (22) Data on the activities of China and Rus- 20 sia, an assessment of the threat of such activities to 21 United States interests, and the impact of such ac- 22 tivities on irregular migration. 23 (23) An analysis of the manner and extent to 24 which assistance made available to the Northern Tri- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2615.RFS H2615 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 HR 2615 RFS angle countries in fiscal years 2015 through 2017 1 were expended, particularly including— 2 (A) the extent to which funds made avail- 3 able to private and nongovernmental entities to 4 provide such assistance were subsequently ex- 5 pended on activities conducted within such 6 countries; and 7 (B) the manner in which such funds were 8 expended on activities in other countries. 9 (24) Data on the geographic regions where 10 highest incidence of violence occurs against women 11 and children. 12 (25) An evaluation of the extent to which 13 women and children who are victims of violence have 14 access to protection and justice. 15 (26) An evaluation of the capacity of the justice 16 system in each Northern Triangle country to re- 17 spond to reports of femicide, sexual assault, domes- 18 tic violence, trafficking, or child abuse and neglect, 19 and to hold perpetrators of such crimes accountable. 20 (c) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The report required 21 under subsection (a) shall be made publicly available on 22 the website of the Department of State. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2615.RFS H2615 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 HR 2615 RFS SEC. 3. ACTIONS TO PROMOTE INCLUSIVE ECONOMIC 1 GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE NORTH- 2 ERN TRIANGLE. 3 (a) SECRETARY OF STATE PRIORITIZATION.—The 4 Secretary of State shall prioritize economic development 5 in the Northern Triangle countries by carrying out the fol- 6 lowing initiatives: 7 (1) Supporting market-based solutions to elimi- 8 nate constraints to inclusive economic growth, in- 9 cluding through support for increased digital 10 connectivity and the use of financial technology, and 11 private sector and civil society-led efforts to create 12 jobs and foster economic prosperity. 13 (2) Addressing underlying causes of poverty 14 and inequality, including by improving nutrition and 15 food security, providing health resources and access 16 to clean water, sanitation, hygiene, and shelter, and 17 improving livelihoods. 18 (3) Responding to immediate humanitarian 19 needs by increasing humanitarian assistance, includ- 20 ing through access to clean water, sanitation, hy- 21 giene, and shelter, improving livelihoods, and by pro- 22 viding health resources and improving nutrition and 23 food security. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2615.RFS H2615 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 HR 2615 RFS (4) Supporting conservation and community re- 1 silience and strengthening community preparedness 2 for natural disasters and other external shocks. 3 (5) Identifying, as appropriate, a role for the 4 United States International Development Finance 5 Corporation, the Millennium Challenge Corporation 6 (MCC), the United States Agency for International 7 Development, and the United States private sector 8 in supporting efforts to increase private sector in- 9 vestment and strengthen economic prosperity. 10 (6) Expanding comprehensive reintegration 11 mechanisms for repatriated individuals once re- 12 turned to their countries of origin and supporting ef- 13 forts by the private sector to hire and train eligible 14 returnees. 15 (7) Establishing monitoring and verification 16 services to determine the well-being of repatriated 17 children in order to determine if United States pro- 18 tection and screening functioned effectively in identi- 19 fying persecuted and trafficked children. 20 (8) Supporting efforts to increase domestic re- 21 source mobilization, including through strengthening 22 of tax collection and enforcement and legal arbitra- 23 tion mechanisms. 24 (b) STRATEGY.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2615.RFS H2615 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 HR 2615 RFS (1) ELEMENTS.—Not later than 180 days after 1 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 2 of State, in coordination with the Administrator of 3 the United States Agency for International Develop- 4 ment, the President and Chief Executive Officer of 5 the Inter-American Foundation, the Director of the 6 United States Trade and Development Agency, the 7 Chief Executive Officer of the United States Inter- 8 national Development Finance Corporation, and the 9 heads of other relevant Federal agencies, shall sub- 10 mit to the appropriate congressional committees a 5- 11 year strategy to support inclusive economic growth 12 and development in the Northern Triangle countries 13 by carrying out the initiatives described in sub- 14 section (a). 15 (2) CONSULTATION.—In developing the strat- 16 egy required under paragraph (1), the Secretary of 17 State shall consult with nongovernmental organiza- 18 tions in the Northern Triangle countries and the 19 United States. 20 (3) BENCHMARKS.—The strategy required 21 under paragraph (1) shall include annual bench- 22 marks to track the strategy’s progress in curbing ir- 23 regular migration from the Northern Triangle to the 24 United States. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2615.RFS H2615 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 HR 2615 RFS (4) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY.—The strategy re- 1 quired under paragraph (1) shall include a public di- 2 plomacy strategy for educating citizens of the North- 3 ern Triangle countries about United States assist- 4 ance and its benefits to them, and informing su [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]