Shadegg Strengthens Penalties in Border Bill
Two Amendments to Deter Human Smuggling and Forgery
Washington,
Dec 16, 2005 -
The United States will have new tools to fight terrorists, human smugglers, and drug smugglers after two amendments were added to the border security bill today.
The amendments, sponsored by House Policy Chairman John Shadegg, increase the penalties for forging documents – especially if the forgeries are used by drug smugglers or terrorists – and allows prosecutors to go after money launderers who work for human smugglers.
“Securing our border is vital to national security,” Shadegg said. “These are serious crimes, and our law enforcement agencies and courts need to be able to treat them effectively.”
The first amendment increases the penalty to at least 25 years for document fraud committed to facilitate an act of international terrorism, and increases the maximum sentence from 20 to 40 years for document fraud committed in drug trafficking.
The same amendment also adds 15 years to the prison sentence of an illegal immigrant who commits a crime of violence or drug trafficking, if that illegal immigrant was already ordered to leave the United States for committing a crime here. Any illegal immigrant who commits any violent or drug trafficking-related crime will also have 5 years added to his or her prison sentence.
The second amendment adds “human smuggling” to the list of crimes in the federal money laundering laws. Human smuggling is a fast-growing category of crime which brings in an estimated $10 billion a year.
“If we want to secure our border, we must get serious about the penalties for border-related crimes,” Shadegg said. “These are common-sense changes to deal with reality on the border.”
Shadegg’s amendments became part of the Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005.
