Securing the Border and Making Drug Cartels Pay for it Act
Latest action · Jan 31, 2019 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJan 31, 2019
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Securing the Border and Making Drug Cartels Pay for it Act
This bill establishes various ways for funding border security enhancements, and increases the government's burden of proof in civil forfeiture cases.
The bill establishes the Secure America Financing Corporation, which shall be authorized to issue Secure America Bonds. The proceeds from such bonds shall be available to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol for security measures, including physical barriers, along the southwest border. Such funds may also be used for data analytics that may lead to increased drug seizures near the border.
Forfeited funds related to a felony conviction for a continuing enterprise involved in the intentional distribution of an imported controlled substance shall be used for security measures, including physical barriers, along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The bill also requires the government, when bringing an action for the civil forfeiture of property, to establish its case by clear and convincing evidence, where it is currently only required to meet the lower preponderance of the evidence standard.
Seized property may be released pending trial in certain situations, but the bill establishes that currency or contraband likely to belong to or used to support a foreign illegal trafficking organization shall not be released.
Cosponsors 2
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Feb 6, 2019 to Feb 13, 2019.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-ND | Kevin Cramer | Feb 6, 2019 | |
| R-LA | John Kennedy | Feb 13, 2019 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jan 31, 2019Introduced in Senate
- Jan 31, 2019Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Immigration.
- Border security and unlawful immigration
- Computers and information technology
- Congressional oversight
- Criminal investigation, prosecution, interrogation
- Department of Homeland Security
- Drug trafficking and controlled substances
- Executive agency funding and structure
- Fraud offenses and financial crimes
- Government corporations and government-sponsored enterprises
- Immigration
- Latin America
- Mexico
- Organized crime
- Public contracts and procurement
- Smuggling and trafficking
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jan 31, 2019Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.