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S 4769
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Illegal Immigration Cost Recovery Act

To double the civil penalties for aliens who enter or attempt to enter the United States without authorization, aliens subject to a final order of removal who fail or refuse to depart from the United States, and employers that knowingly hire aliens who are not authorized to work in the United States.

Introduced Jun 11, 2026

Latest action (Jun 11, 2026) Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Policy area
Issues
Immigration

Summary

  • Increases civil penalties for employers that knowingly hire unauthorized aliens, with first-time penalties ranging from $1,432-$11,448 (up from $250-$2,000)
  • Increases civil penalties for subsequent employer violations, ranging from $11,448-$28,616 for second violations (up from $2,000-$5,000) and $17,172-$57,238 for third or later violations (up from $3,000-$10,000)
  • Increases civil penalty for aliens subject to removal orders who fail to depart from $500 to $1,996
  • Increases civil penalty for improper entry into the United States from $50-$250 to $200-$1,000
  • Requires annual inflation adjustments to all penalty amounts starting October 1, 2027, using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers

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)

Actions (2)

  1. Jun 11, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. · senate
  2. Jun 11, 2026 Introduced in Senate

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

Full text

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

June 11, 2026

Mr. Scott of Florida (for himself, Mr. Lee, and Mr. Sheehy) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To double the civil penalties for aliens who enter or attempt to enter the United States without authorization, aliens subject to a final order of removal who fail or refuse to depart from the United States, and employers that knowingly hire aliens who are not authorized to work in the United States.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Illegal Immigration Cost Recovery Act”.

SEC. 2. INCREASED CIVIL PENALTIES FOR EMPLOYERS THAT HIRE UNAUTHORIZED ALIENS.

(a) In General.—Section 274A(e)(4)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(e)(4)(A)) is amended—

(1) in the matter preceding clause (i), by inserting “, subject to paragraph (10),” after “such violations and”;

(2) in clause (i), by striking “$250 and not more than $2,000” and inserting “$1,432 and not more than $11,448”;

(3) in clause (ii), by striking “$2,000 and not more than $5,000” and inserting “$11,448 and not more than $28,616”; and

(4) in clause (iii), by striking “$3,000 and not more than $10,000” and inserting “$17,172 and not more than $57,238”.

(b) Annual Inflation Adjustment.—Section 274A(e) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(e)) is amended by adding at the end the following:

“(10) Annual inflation adjustment.—

“(A) In general.—Beginning on October 1, 2027, the penalty amounts established under paragraph (4)(A) shall be adjusted annually to account for inflation by using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the same manner as civil monetary penalties are adjusted under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (28 U.S.C. 2461 note).

“(B) Publication.—The Secretary of Homeland Security shall publish the inflation-adjusted amounts referred to in subparagraph (A) in the Federal Register not later than December 15 of each year, and such adjusted amounts shall apply to penalties assessed on or after January 1 of the following year.”.

SEC. 3. INCREASED CIVIL PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO DEPART.

Section 274D(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324d(a)) is amended—

(1) by amending the section header to read as follows: “civil penalties for failure to depart”;

(2) in paragraph (1), by redesignating subparagraphs (A),

(B), and (C) as clause (i), (ii), and (iii), respectively;

(3) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively;

(4) by striking “(a) In General.—Any alien” and inserting the following:

“(a) In General.—

“(1) Conditions.—Subject to paragraph (2), any alien”;

(5) in the undesignated matter following subparagraph (B), as redesignated, by striking “$500” and inserting “$1,996”; and

(6) by adding at the end the following:

“(2) Annual inflation adjustment.—

“(A) In general.—Beginning on October 1, 2027, the penalty amounts established under paragraph (1) shall be adjusted annually to account for inflation by using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the same manner as civil monetary penalties are adjusted under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (28 U.S.C. 2461 note).

“(B) Publication.—The Secretary of Homeland Security shall publish the inflation-adjusted amounts referred to in subparagraph (A) in the Federal Register not later than December 15 of each year, and such adjusted amounts shall apply to penalties assessed on or after January 1 of the following year.”.

SEC. 4. INCREASED CIVIL PENALTY FOR IMPROPER ENTRY.

Section 275(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1325(b)) is amended—

(1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively, and by moving such subparagraphs 2 ems to the right;

(2) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), as redesignated, by striking “Any alien” and inserting the following:

“(1) Civil penalty.—Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), any alien”;

(3) in paragraph (1)(A), as redesignated, by striking “$50 and not more than $250” and inserting “$200 and not more than $1,000”;

(4) in the undesignated matter following subparagraph (B), as redesignated, by striking “Civil penalties” and inserting the following:

“(2) Clarification.—Civil penalties”; and

(5) by adding at the end the following:

“(3) Annual inflation adjustment.—

“(A) In general.—Beginning on October 1, 2027, the penalty amounts established under subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1) shall be adjusted annually to account for inflation by using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the same manner as civil monetary penalties are adjusted under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (28 U.S.C. 2461 note).

“(B) Publication.—The Secretary of Homeland Security shall publish the inflation-adjusted amounts referred to in subparagraph (A) in the Federal Register not later than December 15 of each year, and such adjusted amounts shall apply to penalties assessed on or after January 1 of the following year.”. <all>

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