Rep. Knott files bill directing DHS threat assessment and strategic plan on Tren de Aragua

Rep. Knott, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, introduced H.R. 4070 on Sept. 26, 2025, a bill titled the "Tren de Aragua Border Security Threat Assessment Act" that would require the Department of Homeland Security to prepare a border threat assessment focused on the criminal organization Tren de Aragua and related affiliates.

The bill directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to submit the assessment to the appropriate congressional committees not later than 180 days after enactment. The assessment must be provided in unclassified form and may include a classified annex. It must identify current and potential criminal threats posed by members of Tren de Aragua and affiliates seeking to "(i) unlawfully enter the United States through the southwest, northern, or maritime border; or (ii) exploit any security vulnerabilities along the southwest, northern, or maritime border." The statute lists required descriptive elements: origins, strategic aims, tactical methods, funding sources, leadership structure, and chronological growth and presence in the United States.

Not later than one year after the assessment is submitted, the bill requires the Secretary, in consultation with other relevant federal heads as appropriate, to deliver a strategic plan for countering the threats identified in the assessment. The strategic plan must, at minimum, consider: mitigation efforts focused on transnational criminal organizations; processes to analyze and disseminate border security and threat information among Department of Homeland Security border security components and other federal, state, local, Tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies adjacent to the affected borders; efforts to locate, detect, interdict, and disrupt transnational criminal organizations, including Tren de Aragua; and efforts to prevent such organizations from proliferating in the United States.

The bill defines "appropriate congressional committees" to mean the House Committee on Homeland Security and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and it references the definition of "intelligence community" from section 3(4) of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003(4)). The introductory text records the primary sponsor as Mr. Knott and lists initial cosponsors including Mr. Guest, Mr. McCaul, Mr. Ogles, Mr. Crane, Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas, Mr. Garbarino, Mr. Mackenzie, Mr. Strong, Rep. Green of Tennessee, Mr. Brecheen, Mr. Gimenez, Rep. Evans of Colorado, Mr. McDowell, and Rep. Higgins of Louisiana; additional sponsors were recorded on Sept. 26, 2025.

House clerical text shows the bill was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and later committed to the Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed. The text does not record any floor votes or committee action on the merits of the bill.

Next steps: H.R. 4070 will proceed through regular congressional procedures for introduced legislation—consideration and any hearings in the House Committee on Homeland Security, and potential further action only if the committee reports the bill and it is scheduled for floor consideration.