New DHS Bill Mandates Confidential Mental Health Programs for Border Patrol, TSA, and Secret Service Agents

The “DHS Suicide Prevention and Resiliency for Law Enforcement Act” establishes a comprehensive, centralized mental health and suicide prevention program specifically for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) law enforcement personnel. This covers agents and officers across major components like Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and the Secret Service. The core of this initiative is the new Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Program, managed by the DHS Chief Medical Officer, which must establish policies based on best practices, collect data on mental health and suicides, and actively work to reduce the stigma associated with seeking help.

The Confidentiality Shield and Stigma Fight

For anyone working in law enforcement, the fear of losing your badge or being sidelined for seeking help is a huge barrier. This bill directly addresses that by requiring DHS components to review and revise any policies that might discourage officers from getting help. Crucially, it mandates safeguards against “adverse action, retaliation, or automatic fitness-for-duty exams for officers solely because they seek or receive psychological counseling.” This is the real-world impact: an officer can access the support they need without worrying that their career is instantly on the line. The bill also stresses that any data collected on mental health or suicides must be kept confidential and cannot be used to publish personally identifiable information, protecting privacy under existing federal laws (5 U.S.C. 552 and 552a).

Building a Safety Net: Peer Support and Family Care

The program isn't just about professional counseling; it’s about building internal support systems. The bill creates a Peer-to-Peer Support Program Advisory Council, which must include trained peer support officials and licensed clinicians from every covered DHS component. This Council’s job is to evaluate existing programs, share what works, and create a network to share trained peer support personnel across agencies. Furthermore, the bill recognizes that the stress of the job affects the whole household. It requires the program to help components develop suicide prevention and resiliency support programs specifically for the families of officers, as well as surviving families of officers lost to suicide.

What Officers Will See on the Ground

Under this bill, DHS components must prioritize several key changes. First, they must offer multiple ways to seek help—both internally and through private, anonymous external sources, including access to outside clinicians and service animals. Second, officers will be required to participate in regular, live training on suicide awareness and resiliency: when they start employment, annually, when they transition to supervisory roles, and, if feasible, when they leave the agency. To ensure accountability, the Program will conduct annual confidential surveys of law enforcement officers to measure the effectiveness of these new programs and establish a baseline for improvement over time. The one caveat here is that the bill relies on “available funding” to ensure the Program office is fully staffed with representatives from each component, meaning the speed and quality of implementation could be tied to future appropriations.