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To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to increase penalties for individuals who illegally reenter the United States after being removed, and for other purposes.
Summary
This Act amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to increase criminal penalties for individuals who illegally reenter the United States after being removed or denied admission. Standard reentry is punishable by fine and up to 5 years imprisonment; however, enhanced penalties of up to 10 years apply to individuals convicted of three or more prior drug or violent misdemeanors, those removed for security-related grounds, or those removed three or more times. The Act establishes a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 to 20 years for individuals convicted of aggravated felonies prior to removal or those with two or more prior illegal reentry convictions, with no concurrent sentencing allowed.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
15 cosponsors
- Rep. Bost, Mike [R-IL-12] (R-IL)
- Rep. Brecheen, Josh [R-OK-2] (R-OK)
- Rep. Burchett, Tim [R-TN-2] (R-TN)
- Rep. Donalds, Byron [R-FL-19] (R-FL)
- Rep. Downing, Troy [R-MT-2] (R-MT)
- Rep. Edwards, Chuck [R-NC-11] (R-NC)
- Rep. Hamadeh, Abraham [R-AZ-8] (R-AZ)
- Rep. Harris, Andy [R-MD-1] (R-MD)
- Rep. LaMalfa, Doug [R-CA-1] (R-CA)
- Rep. Luna, Anna Paulina [R-FL-13] (R-FL)
- Rep. Messmer, Mark [R-IN-8] (R-IN)
- Rep. Miller, Mary E. [R-IL-15] (R-IL)
- Rep. Schmidt, Derek [R-KS-2] (R-KS)
- Rep. Sessions, Pete [R-TX-17] (R-TX)
- Rep. Zinke, Ryan K. [R-MT-1] (R-MT)
Actions (2)
- Jan 28, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. · house
- Jan 28, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
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Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 28, 2025
Mrs. Bice (for herself, Mr. Zinke, Mrs. Miller of Illinois, and Mr. Hamadeh of Arizona) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to increase penalties for individuals who illegally reenter the United States after being removed, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLES.
This Act may be cited as the “Stop Illegal Reentry Act”.
SEC. 2. INCREASED PENALTIES FOR REENTRY OF REMOVED ALIEN.
Section 276 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1326) is amended—
(1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as subsections
(d) and (e), respectively;
(2) by striking subsections (a) and (b) and inserting the following:
“(a) In General.—Subject to subsections (b) and (c), any alien who—
“(1) has been denied admission, excluded, deported, or removed or has departed the United States while an order of exclusion, deportation, or removal is outstanding; and
“(2) thereafter enters, attempts to enter, or is at any time found in, the United States, unless—
“(A) prior to the alien’s reembarkation at a place outside the United States or the alien’s application for admission from foreign contiguous territory, the Secretary of Homeland Security has expressly consented to such alien’s reapplying for admission; or
“(B) with respect to an alien previously denied admission and removed, such alien shall establish that the alien was not required to obtain such advance consent under this Act or any prior Act, shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.
“(b) Criminal Penalties for Reentry of Certain Removed Aliens.—
“(1) In general.—Notwithstanding the penalty under subsection (a), and except as provided in subsection (c), an alien described in subsection (a)—
“(A) who was convicted before such removal or departure of 3 or more misdemeanors involving drugs, crimes against the person, or both, or a felony (other than an aggravated felony), shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both;
“(B) who has been excluded from the United States pursuant to section 235(c) because the alien was inadmissible under section 212(a)(3)(B) or who has been removed from the United States pursuant to title V, and who thereafter, without the permission of the Secretary of Homeland Security, enters the United States, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, and imprisoned for a period of 10 years, which sentence shall not run concurrently with any other sentence;
“(C) who was removed from the United States pursuant to section 241(a)(4)(B) who thereafter, without the permission of the Secretary of Homeland Security, enters, attempts to enter, or is at any time found in, the United States, shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both; and
“(D) who has been denied admission, excluded, deported, or removed 3 or more times and thereafter enters, attempts to enter, crosses the border to, attempts to cross the border to, or is at any time found in the United States, shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.
“(2) Removal defined.—In this subsection and in subsection (c), the term ‘removal’ includes any agreement in which an alien stipulates to removal during (or not during) a criminal trial under either Federal or State law.
“(c) Mandatory Minimum Criminal Penalty for Reentry of Certain Removed Aliens.—Notwithstanding the penalties provided in subsections
(a) and (b), an alien described in subsection (a)—
“(1) who was convicted before such removal or departure of an aggravated felony; or
“(2) who was convicted at least 2 times before such removal or departure of illegal reentry under this section, shall be imprisoned not less than 5 years and not more than 20 years, and may, in addition, be fined under title 18, United States Code.”; and
(3) in subsection (d), as redesignated by paragraph (1)—
(A) by striking “section 242(h)(2)” and inserting “section 241(a)(4)”; and
(B) by striking “Attorney General” and inserting “Secretary of Homeland Security”. <all>
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