Kate's Law

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3374 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. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 20, 2021 Mr. BROOKS (for himself and Mr. GOODEN of Texas) 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLES. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Illegal Reentry 4 Act’’ or as ‘‘Kate’s Law’’. 5 SEC. 2. INCREASED PENALTIES FOR REENTRY OF RE- 6 MOVED ALIEN. 7 Section 276 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 8 (8 U.S.C. 1326) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3374.IH H3374 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3374 IH (1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 1 subsections (d) and (e), respectively; 2 (2) by striking subsections (a) and (b) and in- 3 serting the following: 4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsections (b) and 5 (c), any alien who— 6 ‘‘(1) has been denied admission, excluded, de- 7 ported, or removed or has departed the United 8 States while an order of exclusion, deportation, or 9 removal is outstanding; and 10 ‘‘(2) thereafter enters, attempts to enter, or is 11 at any time found in, the United States, unless— 12 ‘‘(A) prior to the alien’s reembarkation at 13 a place outside the United States or the alien’s 14 application for admission from foreign contig- 15 uous territory, the Secretary of Homeland Se- 16 curity has expressly consented to such alien’s 17 reapplying for admission; or 18 ‘‘(B) with respect to an alien previously de- 19 nied admission and removed, such alien shall 20 establish that the alien was not required to ob- 21 tain such advance consent under this Act or 22 any prior Act, 23 shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, 24 imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3374.IH H3374 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3374 IH ‘‘(b) CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR REENTRY OF CER- 1 TAIN REMOVED ALIENS.— 2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding the pen- 3 alty under subsection (a), and except as provided in 4 subsection (c), an alien described in subsection (a)— 5 ‘‘(A) who was convicted before such re- 6 moval or departure of 3 or more misdemeanors 7 involving drugs, crimes against the person, or 8 both, or a felony (other than an aggravated fel- 9 ony), shall be fined under title 18, United 10 States Code, imprisoned not more than 10 11 years, or both; 12 ‘‘(B) who has been excluded from the 13 United States pursuant to section 235(c) be- 14 cause the alien was inadmissible under section 15 212(a)(3)(B) or who has been removed from 16 the United States pursuant to title V, and who 17 thereafter, without the permission of the Sec- 18 retary of Homeland Security, enters the United 19 States, or attempts to do so, shall be fined 20 under title 18, United States Code, and impris- 21 oned for a period of 10 years, which sentence 22 shall not run concurrently with any other sen- 23 tence; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3374.IH H3374 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3374 IH ‘‘(C) who was removed from the United 1 States pursuant to section 241(a)(4)(B) who 2 thereafter, without the permission of the Sec- 3 retary of Homeland Security, enters, attempts 4 to enter, or is at any time found in, the United 5 States, shall be fined under title 18, United 6 States Code, imprisoned for not more than 10 7 years, or both; and 8 ‘‘(D) who has been denied admission, ex- 9 cluded, deported, or removed 3 or more times 10 and thereafter enters, attempts to enter, crosses 11 the border to, attempts to cross the border to, 12 or is at any time found in the United States, 13 shall be fined under title 18, United States 14 Code, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or 15 both. 16 ‘‘(2) REMOVAL DEFINED.—In this subsection 17 and in subsection (c), the term ‘removal’ includes 18 any agreement in which an alien stipulates to re- 19 moval during (or not during) a criminal trial under 20 either Federal or State law. 21 ‘‘(c) MANDATORY MINIMUM CRIMINAL PENALTY FOR 22 REENTRY OF CERTAIN REMOVED ALIENS.—Notwith- 23 standing the penalties provided in subsections (a) and (b), 24 an alien described in subsection (a)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3374.IH H3374 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3374 IH ‘‘(1) who was convicted before such removal or 1 departure of an aggravated felony; or 2 ‘‘(2) who was convicted at least two times be- 3 fore such removal or departure of illegal reentry 4 under this section, 5 shall be imprisoned not less than five years and not more 6 than 20 years, and may, in addition, be fined under title 7 18, United States Code.’’; and 8 (3) in subsection (d), as redesignated by para- 9 graph (1)— 10 (A) by striking ‘‘section 242(h)(2)’’ and in- 11 serting ‘‘section 241(a)(4)’’; and 12 (B) by striking ‘‘Attorney General’’ and in- 13 serting ‘‘Secretary of Homeland Security’’. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3374.IH H3374 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS