Bill further empowers ICE BITMAP initiative

Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) and Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) recently introduced legislation designed to strengthen the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Biometric Identification Transnational Migration Alert Program (BITMAP), which detects and deters illicit criminal entry.

BITMAP is an ICE/Homeland Security Investigations (ICE/HSI) – led program established in 2011 under then-President Obama, enabling partner-country law enforcement officers to collect and share biometric and biographic data on special interest individuals to identify potential threats utilizing illicit pathways to enter the United States.

“Criminals attempt to violate our nation’s borders every day and enter our country undetected,” McSally said. “We must provide every tool necessary to detect bad actors before they reach our borders to protect our communities. The ICE BITMAP program is a proven data sharing mechanism to provide intelligence across our borders and is an example of true bilateral cooperation to identify known or suspected terrorists and criminals on their journey to the U.S.”

McCaul, the Republican leader of the Foreign Affairs Committee and former chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said terror threats are continually evolving and adversaries are becoming more agile and elusive.

“Specifically, they are exploiting the illicit pathways in South and Central America to gain access to our nation,” he said. “To combat this threat, we must leverage our international partnerships and use the most advanced technology to our advantage. ICE’s BITMAP program shares valuable data from law enforcement officers in participating countries with our own law enforcement and intelligence agencies.”

BITMAP has been credited with identifying several hundred known or suspected terrorists, in addition to criminals, drug smugglers, human traffickers, murderers, child predators and gangs like MS-13.