HR7098-119

What This Bill Does

The Homeland Threat Response Act amends section 875(d)(1) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. That provision authorizes Department of Homeland Security assistance relating to certain violent acts, shootings, and mass killings. The bill adds U.S. Customs and Border Protection alongside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and expands the covered activity language to include response, threat mitigation, resolution, and investigation. The practical effect is to let CBP personnel and capabilities be deployed or used in DHS assistance for qualifying homeland-threat incidents, not only post-incident investigative work.

Who Benefits and How

State and local law enforcement agencies, emergency managers, communities facing violent threats, DHS operations leaders, and CBP tactical or investigative units benefit from broader authority to use CBP capabilities during threat response and mitigation. Congress benefits from a clearer statutory role for CBP in homeland threat incidents beyond border functions.

Who Bears the Burden and How

CBP field offices, DHS operations staff, and interagency coordinators must manage deployments, threat-mitigation support, incident response, and investigative assistance while preserving other CBP missions. Civil liberties monitors and local communities may scrutinize expanded CBP involvement in domestic threat response, especially when federal personnel support non-border incidents.

Key Provisions

• Adds U.S. Customs and Border Protection to DHS assistance authority for violent acts, shootings, and mass killings.
• Expands the authority to cover response, threat mitigation, and resolution in addition to investigation.
• Amends Homeland Security Act section 875(d)(1) without creating a separate grant program or funding authorization.