House passes bill for tougher smuggling penalties

The U.S. House of Representatives passed Rep. Baron Hill’s Alien Smuggling and Terrorism Prevention Act on March 31 with no opposition, indicating strong bipartisan support for stricter penalties for human traffickers who smuggle immigrants into the United States.

H.R. 1029 would raise alien -muggling from a misdemeanor to a felony and impose a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for most alien smugglers. It would add 30 years imprisonment for smuggling a person who intends to engage in terrorist activity and impose a life sentence if the offense involves kidnapping, sexual abuse or homicide.

“When I returned to Congress in 2006, I was quite frankly appalled to learn from law enforcement that the punishment for alien-smuggling does not fit the crime,” Hill said.
“To that end, I introduced this bill first in 2007 and then again in the 111th Congress.
We need to pass this bill and move one step forward in really securing our borders.”
Hill said the act will give law enforcement the tools necessary to prosecute participants in alien-smuggling, who are often overlooked in existing laws.

To prevent terrorist attacks, the act would require the Department of Homeland Security to check alien smugglers and smuggled individuals apprehended at the U.S. border against all available terrorist watch lists.

Although the act faced no opposition in the House, the American Civil Liberties Union has voiced concerns about the text in the proposed legislation and has urged the Senate to address these concerns.

The ACLU claims that terrorist watch lists are filled with errors and that checking alleged smugglers against them could erroneously identify innocent Americans. It’s also concerned that humanitarian relief organizations could be prosecuted for providing material support to illegal immigrants.

“The watch lists are riddled with errors, and until they are fixed, we can’t rely on them to identify terrorists,” said Caroline Frederickson, director of the ACLU’s Washington legislative office. “Instead, the lists harm innocent Americans, as does failing to extend immunity to charitable organizations that provide medical assistance and food to the least fortunate.”

IU graduate student Jon Anderson said he thought the act might be a good idea in certain respects but questioned the Congress’ underlying intentions.

“I don’t believe in terror watch lists,” Anderson said. “They are arbitrary and subjective.”

But the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a national nonprofit group that advocates the reduction of illegal immigration, applauded Hill’s bill as a step in the right direction.

“We support immigration policies that punish those who smuggle illegal aliens into the United States, but it shouldn’t stop there,” said Ira Mehlman, communications director for the federation. “It seems to be the policy of this administration to only go after illegal immigrants who have committed some other type of illegal activity.”

This is analogous to a police department only prosecuting the most serious criminals and ignoring everyone who has committed a lesser offense, Mehlman said.

“More than 17,000 individuals were illegally trafficked into this country last year,” Hill said in a press release. “This is a serious violation of our border laws. I believe this bill will not only prosecute offenders but act as a deterrent for illegal alien smugglers and therefore greatly cut down on illegal immigration.”