DETER Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3442 To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide that aliens who engage in improper interference in a United States election are inadmis- sible and deportable, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 24, 2019 Mr. COLLINS of Georgia (for himself, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. STEUBE, Mr. CLINE, Mr. ARMSTRONG, and Mr. BUCK) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Ju- diciary A BILL To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide that aliens who engage in improper interference in a United States election are inadmissible and deportable, 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 TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Defending Elections 4 against Trolls from Enemy Regimes Act’’ or the ‘‘DETER 5 Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Jun 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3442.IH H3442 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3442 IH SEC. 2. DEFINED TERM. 1 Section 101(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 2 Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)) is amended by adding at the end 3 the following: 4 ‘‘(53) The term ‘improper interference in a 5 United States election’ means conduct by an alien 6 that— 7 ‘‘(A)(i) violates Federal criminal, voting 8 rights, or campaign finance law; or 9 ‘‘(ii) is performed by any person acting as 10 an agent of or on behalf of a foreign govern- 11 ment or criminal enterprise; and 12 ‘‘(B) includes any covert, fraudulent, de- 13 ceptive, or unlawful act or attempted act, un- 14 dertaken with the purpose or effect of under- 15 mining public confidence in election processes 16 or institutions, or influencing, undermining con- 17 fidence in, or altering the result or reported re- 18 sult of, a general or primary Federal, State, or 19 local election or caucus, including— 20 ‘‘(i) the campaign of a candidate; or 21 ‘‘(ii) a ballot measure, including an 22 amendment, a bond issue, an initiative, a 23 recall, a referral, or a referendum.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Jun 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3442.IH H3442 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3442 IH SEC. 3. IMPROPER INTERFERENCE IN UNITED STATES 1 ELECTIONS. 2 (a) INADMISSIBILITY.—Section 212(a)(3) of the Im- 3 migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)) is 4 amended by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(H) IMPROPER INTERFERENCE IN A 6 UNITED STATES ELECTION.—Any alien who a 7 consular officer, the Secretary of Homeland Se- 8 curity, the Secretary of State, or the Attorney 9 General knows, or has reasonable grounds to 10 believe, is seeking admission to the United 11 States to engage in improper interference in a 12 United States election, or has engaged in im- 13 proper interference in a United States election, 14 is inadmissible.’’. 15 (b) DEPORTABILITY.—Section 237(a) of the Immi- 16 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1227(a)) is amend- 17 ed by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(8) IMPROPER INTERFERENCE IN A UNITED 19 STATES ELECTION.—Any alien who has engaged, is 20 engaged, or at any time after admission engages in 21 improper interference in a United States election is 22 deportable.’’. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Jun 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3442.IH H3442 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS