[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2579 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2579

   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

                             April 15, 2021

 Mrs. Hartzler (for herself, Mr. Crawford, Mr. Babin, Mr. Lamborn, Mr. 
    Rouzer, Mrs. Wagner, Mrs. Hinson, Mr. Crenshaw, and Mr. Brooks) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 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 jurisdiction of 
                        the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Eradicate Crossing of Illegal 
Tunnels Act of 2021'' or the ``EXIT Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. UNLAWFUL BORDER CROSSING TUNNEL SEARCH AND REMEDIATION.

    (a) Waiver Authority of Certain Environmental Requirements 
Regarding Tunnel Actions on Private Land.--Section 287 of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1357) is amended by adding at 
the end the following new subsection:
    ``(i) Waiver Authority of Certain Environmental Requirements 
Regarding Tunnel Actions on Private Land.--Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall have the 
authority to waive all requirements relating to Federal, State, or 
local environmental permits and reviews such Secretary, in such 
Secretary's sole discretion, determines necessary to search for and 
remediate unlawful border crossing tunnels under subsection (a)(3). Any 
such decision by the Secretary shall be effective upon being published 
in the Federal Register.''.
    (b) Contract Authority.--
            (1) In general.--To search for and remediate unlawful 
        border crossing tunnels in accordance with section 287 of the 
        Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1357), the 
        Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the 
        Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are 
        authorized to enter into indefinite delivery, indefinite 
        quantity contracts.
            (2) Definition.--In this subsection, the term ``indefinite 
        delivery, indefinite quantity contract'' means a contract that 
        is entered into by the head of a Federal agency with two or 
        more sources pursuant to the same solicitation.
    (c) Clarification Regarding Actions on Private Land.--Paragraph (3) 
of section 287(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1357(a)) is amended by inserting ``, including to search for and 
remediate unlawful border crossing tunnels,'' after ``patrolling the 
border''.
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