[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9539 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 9539
To require the development of an inter-agency strategy and the
submission of certain reports relating to the illegal export and
trafficking of firearms from the United States to recipients in Mexico
and certain Central American and Caribbean countries, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 14, 2022
Mr. Castro of Texas (for himself, Mrs. Torres of California, Mr. Sires,
Mr. Grijalva, Ms. Omar, Ms. Barragan, and Mr. Espaillat) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the development of an inter-agency strategy and the
submission of certain reports relating to the illegal export and
trafficking of firearms from the United States to recipients in Mexico
and certain Central American and Caribbean countries, 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 ``Americas Regional Monitoring of Arms
Sales Act of 2022'' or the ``ARMAS Act of 2022''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Violence in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean
is exacerbated by firearms originating in the United States.
(2) While firearms are trafficked to Mexico from a variety
of countries, firearms originating in the United States account
for 70 percent of the firearms recovered and traced from crimes
in Mexico, according to the 2021 GAO report ``Firearms
Trafficking: U.S. Efforts to Disrupt Gun Smuggling into Mexico
Would Benefit from Additional Data and Analysis''.
(3) United States-origin firearm flows contribute to human
rights violations, organized crime and gang violence,
extrajudicial killings, high homicide rates, domestic violence,
and femicides in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.
(4) According to the Executive Secretariat of National
System for Public Security of Mexico, during the period
beginning in 2012 and ending in 2021, Mexico experienced more
than 168,000 firearms homicides.
(5) According to the United Nations Regional Centre for
Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the
Caribbean, firearms are used in 70 percent of homicides in the
Caribbean compared to 30 percent globally; the Caribbean has
less than one percent of the world's population, but 23 percent
of all recorded homicides.
(6) In an August 2022 press conference, U.S. authorities
from Homeland Security Investigations reported a ``marked
uptick in the number of weapons'', and an increase in the
caliber and type of weapons, being illegally trafficked to
Haiti and the rest of the Caribbean.
(7) The Caribbean Basin Security Initiative of the
Department of State that commenced in 2009 is the regional U.S.
foreign assistance program that seeks to reduce illicit
trafficking in the region and advance public safety and
security. The program includes improving the capacity of
Caribbean countries to intercept smuggled weapons at airports
and seaports, as well as support for forensic ballistics and
firearms destruction and stockpile management. Assistance under
the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative has also included
support for regional organizations, including--
(A) the Caribbean Community Implementation Agency
for Crime and Security (CARICOM IMPACS), based in
Trinidad and Tobago, the lead agency involved in the
issue of illicit arms trafficking and increasing the
capacity of member states to detect and prevent
firearms trafficking; and
(B) the Eastern Caribbean's Regional Security
System, based in Barbados.
(8) Firearms trafficking from the United States and firearm
violence are key drivers of immigration and asylum claims from
Central America.
(9) Two GAO reports (published in 2021 and 2022,
respectively) on firearms trafficking have affirmed that
firearms trafficking to Mexico and Central America continues to
represent a security concern to the United States, as United
States-origin firearms are diverted from legitimate owners and
end up in the hands of violent criminals, including drug
traffickers and other transnational criminal organizations. A
GAO report on the effect of firearms trafficking in the
Caribbean has not yet been compiled.
(10) In these reports, the Comptroller General found that
Federal departments and agencies lacked information and
analysis of the firearms trafficking networks in Mexico and
Central America, that few efforts of the United States
Government in the region focused on firearms trafficking, and
that, as a result, such agencies lack a detailed understanding
of the firearms trafficking that fuels violence and enables
criminals in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and
Mexico.
(11) In the 2022 GAO report ``Firearms Trafficking: More
Information Needed to Inform U.S. Efforts in Central America'',
the Comptroller General found that efforts of the United States
Government focused on firearms trafficking in Belize, El
Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras lacked information about
relevant country conditions and performance measures to ensure
such efforts were designed and implemented to achieve the
intended objectives and, as a result, the Comptroller General
recommended that the Secretary of State obtain information
about the conditions in such countries, to support the
development of effective programs to reduce the availability of
illicit firearms.
(12) Data on firearms trafficking is limited and to
understand the problem, data compilation is crucial.
(13) In 2021 and 2022, the annual Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices of the Department of State included ``unlawful
and arbitrary killings'' as a significant human rights issue in
Guatemala, yet despite such inclusion, the Under Secretary of
Commerce for Industry and Security has authorized approximately
99,270 firearms exports to Guatemala since assuming
responsibility for firearms licensing in 2020.
(14) When firearms were controlled under the United States
Munitions List and the licensing of firearms was the
responsibility of the Secretary of State, the average number of
firearms licensed for export to Guatemala was approximately
4,000 per year.
(15) The current number of exports specified in paragraph
(10) represents an extraordinary increase (as much as 25 times
the average) from the number specified in paragraph (11), and
the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security has
only been able to conduct a very limited number of end-use
checks, according to the 2022 GAO report ``Firearms
Trafficking: More Information Needed to Inform U.S. Efforts in
Central America''.
(16) The proposed security cooperation plan titled ``U.S.-
Mexico Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Heath, and
Safe Communities'' and other new initiatives to address root
causes of migration from Central America offer an opportunity
to reaffirm commitments and strengthen cooperation on
addressing firearms trafficking.
SEC. 3. REPORTS AND STRATEGY ON DISRUPTION OF ILLEGAL EXPORT AND
TRAFFICKING OF FIREARMS TO MEXICO AND CERTAIN CENTRAL
AMERICAN COUNTRIES.
(a) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State (in consultation with the
Secretary of Commerce, the Attorney General, the Director of the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the heads of such
other Federal departments or agencies as the Secretary of State may
determine relevant) shall submit to the appropriate congressional
committees a report on the efforts of the Secretary of State and the
heads of other relevant Federal departments and agencies to disrupt the
illegal export or diversion of firearms from the United States to
unauthorized recipients in countries designated as covered countries
under section 4 (including through unauthorized third-party transfers),
and the illegal trafficking of firearms obtained in the United States
to such recipients. Such report shall include the following:
(1) An identification of any such efforts, including
efforts to accomplish the following objectives:
(A) Tracking and verifying information regarding
the end-users of firearms so exported, including by
entering into data-sharing agreements with appropriate
counterparts from the governments of such covered
countries.
(B) Ensuring the destruction of surplus firearms so
exported.
(C) Ensuring that firearms so exported are not used
to commit extrajudicial killings or other gross
violations of internationally recognized human rights.
(D) Building the capacity of such covered countries
to prevent the trafficking of firearms so exported,
including through current programs supported or
implemented by the United States Government.
(E) Tracking and verifying information regarding
the end-users of firearms obtained in the United States
and illegally trafficked to such covered countries.
(F) Combating all forms of cross-border smuggling
of firearms from the United States.
(G) Engaging with subnational government officials
in such covered countries to effectively implement and
enforce agreements relating to the trafficking of
firearms that have been concluded between the United
States Government and the national government of the
respective covered country.
(H) Identifying the origin of trafficked weapons,
including through the serial numbers of trafficked
firearms.
(2) An assessment of the results of the efforts identified
pursuant to paragraph (1).
(3) A description of how homicides, extrajudicial killings,
and other gross violations of internationally recognized human
rights committed in such covered countries using firearms
exported from or obtained in the United States have been
investigated.
(b) Inter-Agency Strategy.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of Commerce and the
Secretary of State, taking into account the findings of the
report under subsection (a), shall jointly develop an inter-
agency strategy for the disruption of the trafficking of
firearms exported from the United States to recipients in
countries designated as covered countries under section 4.
(2) Elements.--The strategy under paragraph (1) shall
include the following:
(A) A plan for the Secretaries to accomplish each
of the objectives specified in subsection (a)(1).
(B) An identification of specific performance
measures, targets (including the baselines for such
targets), and timelines with respect to such
objectives.
(C) An estimate of the resources and personnel
necessary to carry out the strategy.
(3) Required considerations; consultations.--In developing
the strategy under paragraph (1), the Secretaries shall--
(A) consider how the strategy may support or
otherwise align with broader efforts of the Secretaries
relating to security assistance, anti-corruption, and
the prevention of organized crime and drug and gang
violence;
(B) consider whether the placement in the Western
Hemisphere of an export control officer of the Bureau
of Industry and Security of the Department of Commerce,
or other personnel of the Department of Commerce or the
Department of State, would support the strategy; and
(C) seek to consult with appropriate counterparts
from the government of each country designated as a
covered country under section 4.
(4) Submission to congress.--Not later than January 1 of
the year following the date of the enactment of this Act, the
Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of State shall jointly
submit to the appropriate congressional committees the strategy
under paragraph (1).
(c) Annual Report.--
(1) Submission.--Not later than one year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the
Secretary of Commerce (in consultation with the Secretary of
State and the heads of such other Federal departments or
agencies as the Secretary of Commerce may determine relevant)
shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a
report on the export of covered items to countries designated
as covered countries under section 4.
(2) Matters.--Each report under paragraph (1) shall
include, with respect to the year for which the report is
submitted, the following information (disaggregated by
country):
(A) Information regarding license applications
approved or denied, and previously issued licenses
modified or revoked, for the export of covered items to
proposed recipients in covered countries.
(B) Information regarding how evolving country
contexts, including with respect to developments in
human rights, affected the approval of license
applications for such exports.
(C) The number of licenses issued for the export of
covered items to proposed recipients in covered
countries.
(D) The number of covered items exported to
recipients in covered countries.
(E) With respect to end-user checks for covered
items exported to recipients in covered countries under
section 38(g)(7) of the Arms Export Control Act (22
U.S.C. 2778(g)(7)) (commonly referred to as the ``Blue
Lantern'' program), the monitoring program established
under the second section 40A of the Arms Export Control
Act (22 U.S.C. 2785) (as added by section 150(a) of
Public Law 104-164), or other applicable programs of
the Department of Commerce or Department of State, the
following information:
(i) The number of such end-user checks
requested.
(ii) The number of such end-user checks
conducted.
(iii) The type of such end-user checks
conducted.
(iv) The results of such end-user checks
conducted.
(F) Information on the extent to which the heads of
the governments of covered countries shared with the
Secretary of Commerce and the heads of other relevant
Federal departments and agencies (such as the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) data
relating to the receipt and end-use of covered items
exported from the United States, and the type of data
so shared.
(G) For each covered country, a description of the
U.S. funding and resources allocated for the purpose of
disrupting trafficking of covered items.
SEC. 4. DESIGNATION OF COVERED COUNTRIES.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce shall designate each
country that the Secretary determines meets the requirements under
subsection (b) as a covered country for purposes of this Act.
(b) Requirements.--A country meets the requirements under this
subsection if the country--
(1) is located in North America, South America, or the
Caribbean;
(2) is not a member state of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization; and
(3) meets such other requirements as the Secretary of State
may determine appropriate.
(c) Initial Designations.--The Bahamas, Belize, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Haiti, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago--
(1) shall be deemed to have been so designated by the
Secretary of Commerce as of the date of the enactment of this
Act; and
(2) shall continue to be deemed so designated for a five-
year period, during which time the designation may not be
terminated under subsection (d).
(d) Termination of Designation.--Subject to subsection (c)(2), the
Secretary of Commerce may terminate the designation of a country under
this section only if, at least 180 days prior to such termination, the
Secretary submits to the appropriate congressional committees a
notification of such termination.
SEC. 5. LIMITATION ON LICENSES AND OTHER AUTHORIZATIONS FOR EXPORT OF
CERTAIN ITEMS REMOVED FROM THE UNITED STATES MUNITIONS
LIST AND INCLUDED ON THE COMMERCE CONTROL LIST.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Commerce may not grant a license
or other authorization for the export of a covered item unless, before
granting the license or other authorization, the Secretary submits to
the chairman and ranking member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of
the House of Representatives and the chairman and ranking member of the
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Senate a written certification with
respect to such proposed export license or other authorization
containing--
(1) the name of the person applying for the license or
other authorization;
(2) the name of the person who is the proposed recipient of
the export;
(3) the name of the country or international organization
to which the export will be made;
(4) a description of the items proposed to be exported; and
(5) the value of the items proposed to be exported.
(b) Form.--A certification required under subsection (a) shall be
submitted in unclassified form, except that information regarding the
dollar value and number of items proposed to be exported may be
restricted from public disclosure if such disclosure would be
detrimental to the security of the United States.
(c) Deadlines.--A certification required under subsection (a) shall
be submitted--
(1) at least 15 calendar days before a proposed export
license or other authorization is granted in the case of a
transfer of items to a country which is a member of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization or Australia, Japan, the Republic
of Korea, Israel, or New Zealand; and
(2) at least 30 calendar days before a proposed export
license or other authorization is granted in the case of a
transfer of items to any other country.
(d) Congressional Resolution of Disapproval.--A proposed export
license or other authorization described in paragraph (1) of subsection
(c) shall become effective after the end of the 15-day period described
in such paragraph, and a proposed export license or other authorization
described in paragraph (2) of subsection (c) shall become effective
after the end of the 30-day period specified in such paragraph, only if
the Congress does not enact, within the applicable time period, a joint
resolution prohibiting the export of the covered item for which the
export license or other authorization was proposed.
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House
of Representatives; and
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the
Senate.
(2) Covered item.--The term ``covered item'' means any item
that--
(A) as of March 8, 2020, was included in Category
I, II, or III of the United States Munitions List; and
(B) is included on the Commerce Control List.
(3) Firearm.--The term ``firearm'' includes--
(A) any item that is included in Category I, II, or
III of the United States Munitions List; and
(B) any covered item.
(4) Gross violations of internationally recognized human
rights.--The term ``gross violations of internationally
recognized human rights'' has the meaning given that term in
section 502B(d) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22
U.S.C. 2304(d)).
(5) Security assistance.--The term ``security assistance''
includes--
(A) the types of assistance specified in section
502B(d)(2) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22
U.S.C. 2304); and
(B) assistance furnished under an international
security assistance program of the United States
conducted under any other provision of law, including
under the authorities under chapter 16 of title 10,
United States Code.
(6) United states munitions list.--The term ``United States
Munitions List'' means the list maintained pursuant to part 121
of title 22, Code of Federal Regulations.
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