HR7119-119

What This Bill Does

The DHS Use of Force Oversight Act adds a Homeland Security Act section requiring a department-wide use-of-force policy for DHS law enforcement officers and agents. The policy must limit force to what is objectively reasonable under the totality of circumstances, require officers to identify themselves and warn when feasible, promote tactics that bring incidents under control while protecting officers and the public, minimize unintended injury and serious property damage, and prohibit chokeholds and carotid restraints. DHS must specify that deescalation is preferred, require initial and recurrent use-of-force and deescalation training, and require each law-enforcement component to designate a subject-matter expert and maintain a use-of-force review council or committee. DHS must collect consistent component data and publish six-month reports on use-of-force incidents involving injury, death, deadly force, less-lethal devices, canines, kinetic impact, vehicles, weapons, physical tactics, disabling fire against vessels or aircraft, component, location, circumstances, and injuries or deaths. DHS must publish summaries of final internal analyses, brief House and Senate homeland security committees and inform the public within 24 hours after incidents causing hospitalization or death, publish information with privacy protections, and undergo ongoing Inspector General review for compliance.

Who Benefits and How

People interacting with DHS law enforcement, migrants, travelers, border communities, civil-rights monitors, congressional homeland security committees, and DHS component leaders benefit from clearer force standards, deescalation training, public reporting, and review. DHS officers also benefit from standardized training and lessons learned that can improve tactics and reduce dangerous incidents.

Who Bears the Burden and How

DHS law enforcement components, CBP officers, ICE officers, Secret Service officers, Federal Protective Service officers, use-of-force trainers, review council members, component data teams, public affairs staff, and the DHS Inspector General must update policy, train personnel, collect and publish incident data, brief Congress quickly, protect privacy, and conduct ongoing compliance reviews.

Key Provisions

• Requires a DHS-wide use-of-force policy limiting force to objectively reasonable force under the circumstances.
• Requires feasible identification and warnings, deescalation preference, recurrent training, component experts, and review councils.
• Prohibits DHS law enforcement officers and agents from using chokeholds and carotid restraints to control non-compliant people resisting arrest.
• Requires six-month public reports on serious use-of-force incidents with component, location, circumstances, and injury or death information.
• Requires 24-hour congressional briefings and public information after use-of-force incidents causing hospitalization or death.
• Requires privacy protection and ongoing DHS Inspector General compliance review.