Stop Illegal Entry Act of 2025
Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHMIDT. Madam Speaker, our colleagues on the other side think that if they just talk about enough other things long enough, the clock will run out and that the American people will forget the disaster that the policies of the prior administration created not just on our border but throughout our communities in this country for the prior 4 years.
They are mistaken. We are not going to forget. We are not going to stop until we fix the holes in our law that enabled bad policies to drive through them.
That is what this bill is about. This bill is about focusing on the worst of the worst. It is about focusing on those who are not deterred under current law by the threat of a 2-year prison sentence. Perhaps it is because they are being paid by the cartels or enabled by the cartels, and the risk is worth it. That is who this is aimed at. That is why a 5- to 10-year prison sentence is warranted, valid, and necessary.
Madam Speaker, I will share just one story from my home State of Kansas about why we care about this issue. This is just one example. In March of 2016, Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino, an illegal alien from Mexico, shot and killed four people in my State. Then, while fleeing from law enforcement, he killed another person in Missouri.
Here is the kicker: It wasn't his first time in the country. It wasn't his first crime in our country. In 2004, he was convicted in California of making a terrorist threat. He was deported, and he came back. In the years that ensued, he encountered law enforcement when he committed battery, when he committed drunk driving, and when he committed traffic infractions. He came back, and he stayed.
I can't say with certainty that if ICE had done their job and shown up, if the prosecutors had actually prosecuted, if the law were tough enough, that none of that would have happened, but I can sure say the odds are much better that those five people might still be alive. I can certainly say that justice would have been done.
This bill is a good first step. We need to do it. It is the right thing.
Madam Speaker, I encourage all of my colleagues to support it. Let me just say, I hope we don't stop here. Let's put this on the President's desk. Let's keep going and finish the job.
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