II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4874 To improve the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations’ Visa Security Program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES OCTOBER 26 (legislative day, OCTOBER 19), 2020 Ms. HASSAN (for herself and Mr. JOHNSON) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To improve the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations’ Visa Security Pro- gram, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Visa Security Expan- 4 sion Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. VISA SECURITY. 6 (a) VISA SECURITY PRESENCE AT HIGH-RISK 7 POSTS.—Section 428 of the Homeland Security Act of 8 2002 (6 U.S.C. 236) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4874.IS S4874 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4874 IS (1) by striking subsection (a) and inserting the 1 following: 2 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 3 ‘‘(1) CONSULAR OFFICER.—The term ‘consular 4 officer’ has the meaning given such term under sec- 5 tion 101(a)(9) of the Immigration and Nationality 6 Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(9)). 7 ‘‘(2) RISK-BASED ASSIGNMENT.—The term 8 ‘risk-based assignment’ means the assignment of 9 visa security presence at a diplomatic or consular 10 post based on relative need, according to the site se- 11 lection criteria described in subsection (e)(1)(B)(iii). 12 ‘‘(3) VISA SECURITY PRESENCE.—The term 13 ‘visa security presence’ means enhanced security at 14 a diplomatic or consular post using any method de- 15 scribed in subsection (e)(1)(B)(iv).’’; and 16 (2) in subsection (e)(1)— 17 (A) by striking ‘‘The Secretary’’ and in- 18 serting the following: 19 ‘‘(A) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary’’; 20 and 21 (B) by adding at the end the following: 22 ‘‘(B) RISK-BASED ASSIGNMENTS.— 23 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—During the 10- 24 year period beginning on the date of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4874.IS S4874 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4874 IS enactment of the Visa Security Expansion 1 Act, the Secretary shall make annual risk- 2 based assignments to provide visa security 3 presence at not fewer than 2 additional 4 diplomatic and consular posts at which 5 visas are issued. 6 ‘‘(ii) LIMITATION.—The total number 7 of embassies or consulates with visa secu- 8 rity presence during the period specified in 9 clause (i) may not exceed 75, unless the 10 Secretary certifies that exceeding this limit 11 is necessary to respond to an imminent na- 12 tional security threat. 13 ‘‘(iii) SITE SELECTION CRITERIA.— 14 The criteria for site selection described in 15 this clause are— 16 ‘‘(I) the number of nationals of a 17 country in which any of the diplomatic 18 and consular posts referred to in 19 clause (i) are located who were identi- 20 fied during the previous year as a 21 known or suspected terrorist in a 22 United States Government database; 23 ‘‘(II) the level of cooperation 24 given by the government of such coun- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4874.IS S4874 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4874 IS try to assist with the counterterrorism 1 efforts of the United States; 2 ‘‘(III) information analyzing the 3 presence, activity, or movement of ter- 4 rorist organizations (as defined in sec- 5 tion 212(a)(3)(B)(vi) of the Immigra- 6 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 7 1182(a)(3)(B)(vi))) within or through 8 such country; 9 ‘‘(IV) information analyzing Se- 10 curity Advisory Opinions issued by the 11 Security Advisory Opinion Unit re- 12 garding nationals of a country in 13 which any of the diplomatic and con- 14 sular posts referred to in clause (i) 15 are located; 16 ‘‘(V) information analyzing the 17 adequacy of the border and immigra- 18 tion controls of such country; and 19 ‘‘(VI) any other criteria the Sec- 20 retary determines appropriate. 21 ‘‘(iv) VISA SECURITY PRESENCE.— 22 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The visa se- 23 curity presence required under clause 24 (i) may be achieved primarily by as- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4874.IS S4874 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4874 IS signing trained Department visa secu- 1 rity agents to a selected embassy or 2 consulate, provided that the Depart- 3 ment issues a report to Congress ex- 4 plaining why the placement of visa se- 5 curity agents is the most cost effective 6 means for achieving a visa security 7 presence at the embassy or consulate. 8 ‘‘(II) ALTERNATE VISA SECURITY 9 PRESENCE.—If the Secretary is un- 10 able to justify the placement of visa 11 security agents under subclause (I), 12 the visa security presence required 13 under clause (i) may be achieved by 14 assigning a regional visa security 15 agent from the Department who will 16 travel to conduct in-person vetting for 17 high priority applications.’’. 18 (b) COUNTERTERRORISM VETTING AND SCREEN- 19 ING.—Section 428(e)(2) of the Homeland Security Act of 20 2002 (6 U.S.C. 236(e)(2)) is amended— 21 (1) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as sub- 22 paragraph (D); and 23 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the fol- 24 lowing: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4874.IS S4874 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4874 IS ‘‘(C) Screen any such applications against 1 the appropriate criminal, national security, and 2 terrorism databases maintained by the Federal 3 Government.’’. 4 (c) TRAINING AND HIRING.—Section 428(e)(6)(A) of 5 the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 6 236(e)(6)(A)) is amended— 7 (1) by striking ‘‘The Secretary shall ensure, to 8 the extent possible, that any employees’’ and insert- 9 ing ‘‘The Secretary, acting through the appropriate 10 official, shall provide training to any employees’’; 11 and 12 (2) by striking ‘‘shall be provided the necessary 13 training’’. 14 (d) INTERAGENCY COOPERATION.— 15 (1) SPACE AND RESOURCES.—Upon the selec- 16 tion of a post by the Secretary of Homeland Secu- 17 rity to provide visa security presence (as defined in 18 section 428(a)(3) of the Homeland Security Act of 19 2002, as added by subsection (a)(1)), the Secretary 20 of State shall ensure, to the extent practicable, that 21 visa security units are provided with sufficient space 22 and resources within the post to carry out the func- 23 tions described in section 428(e) of such Act (6 24 U.S.C. 236(e)). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:40 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4874.IS S4874 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4874 IS (2) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—If the Secretary of 1 State is unable to provide sufficient space and re- 2 sources for a post selected by the Secretary of 3 Homeland Security in accordance with paragraph 4 (1), the Secretary of State shall submit a report to 5 Congress that details the reasons it would be im- 6 practicable to provide such space and resources. 7 SEC. 3. METRICS. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 9 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Home- 10 land Security shall submit a report to Congress and to 11 the Comptroller General of the United States that outlines 12 the performance measurement process established pursu- 13 ant to subsection (b) by which the Department of Home- 14 land Security shall evaluate the performance of the visa 15 security units. 16 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF PERFORMANCE MEASURE- 17 MENT PROCESS.—The Secretary of Homeland Security 18 shall establish and continue to use a performance meas- 19 urement process for the Visa Security Program, which 20 shall include— 21 (1) using objective and quantifiable perform- 22 ance metrics and targets; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4874.IS S4874 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4874 IS (2) collecting and analyzing data to determine 1 whether targeted levels of performance have been 2 achieved; 3 (3) taking actions to address gaps between de- 4 sired and actual performance; and 5 (4) updating or revising performance metrics, 6 as necessary. 7 (c) GAO REVIEW.—Not later than 120 days after the 8 receipt of the report required under subsection (a), the 9 Comptroller General of the United States shall submit a 10 report to Congress containing the results of its review of 11 the validity and reliability of the performance measure- 12 ment process established by the Department of Homeland 13 Security to evaluate the performance of the visa security 14 units. 15 SEC. 4. VISA SECURITY FEE. 16 (a) IN GENERAL.—After submitting the report re- 17 quired under section 3(a), the Secretary of State, in co- 18 ordination with the Secretary of Homeland Security, 19 shall— 20 (1) establish a security fee to be paid with all 21 nonimmigrant visas applications; and 22 (2) use the security fee established pursuant to 23 paragraph (1) to offset the operating costs of— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:40 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4874.IS S4874 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4874 IS (A) expanding the establishment of visa se- 1 curity presence at additional posts; and 2 (B) at the discretion of the Secretaries, ex- 3 isting visa security units. 4 (b) FEE ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary of State, 5 in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, 6 shall— 7 (1) charge the fee required under subsection (a) 8 in support of the Immigration and Customs Enforce- 9 ment Visa Security Program; 10 (2) initially deposit such fees into the Consular 11 Border Security Program Account or into another 12 account of the Department of State; and 13 (3) regularly transfer the amounts deposited 14 pursuant to paragraph (2) into the Immigration Ex- 15 aminations Fee Account established under section 16 286(m) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 17 U.S.C. 1356(m)). 18 SEC. 5. ANNUAL REPORT. 19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 20 date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter 21 until December 31, 2030, the Secretary of Homeland Se- 22 curity, in coordination with the Secretary of State, shall 23 submit a law enforcement sensitive report to Congress on 24 the security of the nonimmigrant visa screening process 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4874.IS S4874 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4874 IS for each post at which Department of Homeland Security 1 visa security personnel are not assigned. 2 (b) CONTENTS.—The report submitted pursuant to 3 subsection (a) shall include— 4 (1) the identification by the consular or diplo- 5 matic post of the methods most commonly used by 6 criminals, terrorist, and others to attempt to exploit 7 the nonimmigrant visa process to enter the United 8 States; 9 (2) the process used by the post to interdict 10 criminals, terrorists, and others who would exploit 11 the nonimmigrant visa process to enter the United 12 States; 13 (3) a description of the counterterrorism and 14 counterfraud training provided by the consular and 15 diplomatic post to visa adjudication officers; 16 (4) the number of personnel at the post trained 17 as immigration law enforcement officers who regu- 18 larly conduct in person interviews with visa appli- 19 cants; 20 (5) the annual number of nominations to the 21 terrorism watch list or modifications to terrorism 22 watch list entries made by personnel at the post in 23 charge of nonimmigrant visa adjudications; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4874.IS S4874 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 4874 IS (6) the number of nonimmigrant visas refused 1 in the past year on the basis of derogatory informa- 2 tion that indicates the applicant is a potential ter- 3 rorist threat; and 4 (7) the steps the post will take to improve non- 5 immigrant visa adjudication and visa screening dur- 6 ing the following 5 years. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4874.IS S4874 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS