I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3968 To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify that the Secretary of Homeland Security may waive certain environmental requirements to permit U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to search for unlawful border crossing tunnels on private land to prevent the illegal entry of aliens into the United States, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 25, 2019 Mrs. HARTZLER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Homeland Security, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic- tion of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify that the Secretary of Homeland Security may waive cer- tain environmental requirements to permit U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Cus- toms Enforcement to search for unlawful border crossing tunnels on private land to prevent the illegal entry of aliens into the United States, and for other purposes. 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 02:07 Aug 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3968.IH H3968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3968 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Eradicate Crossing of 2 Illegal Tunnels Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘EXIT Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. UNLAWFUL BORDER CROSSING TUNNEL SEARCH 4 AND REMEDIATION. 5 (a) WAIVER AUTHORITY OF CERTAIN ENVIRON- 6 MENTAL REQUIREMENTS REGARDING TUNNEL ACTIONS 7 ON PRIVATE LAND.—Section 287 of the Immigration and 8 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1357) is amended by adding 9 at the end the following new subsection: 10 ‘‘(i) WAIVER AUTHORITY OF CERTAIN ENVIRON- 11 MENTAL REQUIREMENTS REGARDING TUNNEL ACTIONS 12 ON PRIVATE LAND.—Notwithstanding any other provision 13 of law, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall have the 14 authority to waive all requirements relating to Federal, 15 State, or local environmental permits and reviews such 16 Secretary, in such Secretary’s sole discretion, determines 17 necessary to search for and remediate unlawful border 18 crossing tunnels under subsection (a)(3). Any such deci- 19 sion by the Secretary shall be effective upon being pub- 20 lished in the Federal Register.’’. 21 (b) CONTRACT AUTHORITY.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—To search for and remediate 23 unlawful border crossing tunnels in accordance with 24 section 287 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 25 (8 U.S.C. 1357), the Commissioner of U.S. Customs 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:07 Aug 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3968.IH H3968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3968 IH and Border Protection and the Director of U.S. Im- 1 migration and Customs Enforcement are authorized 2 to enter into indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity 3 contracts. 4 (2) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 5 ‘‘indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract’’ 6 means a contract that is entered into by the head of 7 a Federal agency with two or more sources pursuant 8 to the same solicitation. 9 (c) CLARIFICATION REGARDING ACTIONS ON PRI- 10 VATE LAND.—Paragraph (3) of section 287(a) of the Im- 11 migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1357(a)) is 12 amended by inserting ‘‘, including to search for and reme- 13 diate unlawful border crossing tunnels,’’ after ‘‘patrolling 14 the border’’. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:07 Aug 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3968.IH H3968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS