Stop Illegal Entry Act of 2025
Floor Speech
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Mr. KNOTT. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 682, I call up the bill (H.R. 3486) to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to increase penalties for individuals who illegally enter and reenter the United States after being removed, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
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Mr. KNOTT. 3486.
Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to open remarks on this important legislation which holds a specific criminal category to account, specifically those who exploit weak border policies to bring crime into the United States.
I certainly feel that it is appropriate, before I begin my remarks, to note that today is the 24th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, and in that same vein, Mr. Speaker, this proposed legislation profoundly enables law enforcement to protect us from all threats that seek to enter our country illegally.
Let me begin by commending Congresswoman Bice for partnering with me on this important issue.
As to the bill, Mr. Speaker, no matter the type or category, all crime is made worse by illegal immigration. Theft, assault, murder, drug trafficking, human trafficking, violent crime, and property crime, you name it, Mr. Speaker, illegal immigration makes it worse.
What is perhaps most unfortunate is that many of the worst offenders in this specific category return to the United States after being deported due to gaps in the current immigration law.
As a former U.S. prosecutor, I saw how deportation alone is insufficient to deter the committed illegal immigrant criminal. I have investigated, tried, and convicted many individuals who had been deported 2 times, 3 times, 4 times, and some even beyond 10 times. Yet, they continue to illegally return with the sole intent--the sole intent--to commit crime here in the United States.
The original version of this bill, Mr. Speaker, was drafted after a 32-year-old woman, an American woman, was tragically murdered by an illegal alien who had five felony convictions and had been deported multiple times from the United States. Tragically, her case is not an outlier. It has become far too common.
Under the current law, we must wait for a repeat felon, a recidivist illegal alien, to harm another American before we can effectively punish him or her for the crimes they seek to commit.
Enough is enough.
For any illegal immigrant who has demonstrated a clear and perverse disregard for our law, this bill shows that we will not wait for them to harm another American before we punish them. The act of returning after deportation is a serious crime, and it should denote serious consequences.
Further, if a person is here illegally, commissioning and being convicted of a felony is not a victimless crime. All felonies have a victim.
Enough is enough.
In the current state of the law, we must wait for an American to be harmed before significant punishments are issued to those who are here illegally. That is the core motivation of the changes being sought in this bill.
Candidly and specifically, if a person is here illegally with demonstrated criminal intent, that alone is sufficient to be punished meaningfully in this country.
Utilizing my own experience prosecuting this specific class of criminal, this bill implements the following commonsense provisions.
First, if any illegal alien is found guilty of a State or Federal felony, that alone qualifies the illegal alien for a new Federal charge that will bring a minimum of 5 years in Federal prison.
Secondly, rather than capping the sentence for illegally reentering-- again, this is not the first attempt--illegally reentering the country at 2 years in prison, which is, again, the current state of the law, the new maximum would become 10 years for all illegal reentries regardless of the criminal history that they have.
Thirdly, if an illegal alien is convicted of any felony and then deported, and that illegal alien attempts to enter the country illegally again, that will qualify the illegal alien for a new Federal charge that carries a minimum of 10 years and up to life in Federal prison.
I want to make it very clear that this bill does nothing to remove the current immigration authority. If a swift deportation is sought, it can be achieved. If apprehension for an underlying crime and prosecution is sought, that is within the discretion of law enforcement and the prosecutor. This merely adds new tools with which we can fight illegal immigrant criminals.
The premise of the bill, Mr. Speaker, begins with the reality that anyone who is in the country illegally is guilty of criminal conduct. However, what triggers the enhanced penalties is either illegal reentry--illegal reentry--after deportation or a felony conviction within the United States.
Let me be clear to preempt some of the concerns on the other side of the aisle. This bill adheres to strict and constitutionally protected due process, requiring a conviction in a court of law to trigger the enhanced penalties while leaving room for discretion as the prosecutor deems necessary.
Yes, we need the law. Yes, we need deportations. Yes, we need to remove those who are here illegally, especially those who have committed crimes that harm Americans. The President has shown that these steps are essential. However, from my firsthand experience, from my conversations with these criminals, and from the crime data that is all over this country, sophisticated criminal networks with vast resources extend their reach into America due to the open-border policies that the left seems so committed to.
It is only through maintaining the policies of this President and strengthening deterrence that we can ensure that illegal immigrant criminals do not continue to flood this country.
We must send a message to those around the world who want to come here to commit harm: Our tolerance for that activity is over.
With the tools in this bill, investigators and prosecutors will be better able to dismantle organized crime rings across America. Most importantly, they will employ an efficient deterrent to anybody who seeks to enter or reenter this country illegally.
It is time for the illegal immigrant criminals to know that we are finished tolerating their presence with the illegal activity that they engage in.
Mr. HARRIS of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I applaud my colleague, Representative Knott, for bringing forth this important legislation.
Mr. Speaker, if we reward illegals for breaking our laws, we cannot be surprised when it continues to happen.
I rise today in support of H.R. 3486, the Stop Illegal Entry Act, legislation to increase penalties for aliens who commit serious crimes, as well as those who enter illegally more than once.
We all know under the Biden administration, illegal immigrants were welcomed with open arms. They were given hotel rooms, cell phones, plane tickets, and work authorization. I am glad to report those days are over.
House Republicans are united behind President Trump's efforts to secure our border, strengthen our immigration enforcement, and fix our immigration system.
Earlier this year, House Republicans made a once-in-a-generation investment in our immigration system. We gave our immigration officers the resources they need to properly enforce our immigration laws and carry out necessary deportations.
Today, we are building upon that work with this proposed law to provide a strong deterrent against those coming here illegally in the first place.
With these enhanced punishments in place, people will think twice before breaking our laws and choosing to overwhelm our immigration system. The harsher the punishment, the more the deterrence. That is just common sense.
A nation that cannot control its borders cannot protect its people. This legislation affirms the rule of law, defends American families from dangerous criminal aliens, and restores accountability to our immigration system.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill.
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Mr. KNOTT. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Schmidt).
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Mr. KNOTT. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Oklahoma (Mrs. Bice).
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Mr. KNOTT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I will say that my friend from Maryland mentioned robbery, rape, and murder. This bill's goal is to apprehend dangerous criminals before they rob, rape, or murder Americans.
Secondly, and most importantly, referencing a farmworker, if they are here illegally and they do not commit a felony, this bill does not touch them. The only standard that this bill has: Do not come back into the country a second time illegally, and do not get convicted of a felony. How low do you think of the farmworkers that they cannot meet that standard?
Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Kennedy).
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Mr. KNOTT. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Moore).
Mr. MOORE of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, I had some prepared remarks, but as I have talked about this and looked at it even more, this is probably one of the most commonsense bills that will come before this Congress.
This bill simply says if someone reenters or if someone commits a felony, that this law applies. These comments from the other side to try to confuse this issue, to misrepresent the issue, make no sense.
Surely, of all of the things in the world that we can disagree on, perhaps we can at least agree that we should not be allowing felons in this country, and that when someone is here illegally and commits a felony that this law ought to apply.
Have not the events of the last recent days shown that we have enough problems already? Why would we want to have felons from outside this country to come in?
I think about what we were talking about a few days ago back in North Carolina--my colleagues Mr. Knott and Mr. Harris are here--with the senseless murder of the young Ukrainian lady on the light-rail line. It turns out, by the way, that she and her family lived in my district. Then, of course, there is also the senseless murder yesterday, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and the violence and evil that is all around us. This is one step to try to prevent and stem even more of that possibly happening. It is by dealing with dangerous folks, not just folks who come across the border for the first time and are dealt with in the normal way, but dealing with folks who are committing serious felonies.
This should be common sense. This is the kind of bill that should get 435 votes on the floor of this House. I hope my colleagues on the other side will reflect on this, will reconsider, and will do the right thing and vote for this bill.
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Mr. KNOTT. Madam Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. KNOTT. Will the gentleman yield?
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Mr. KNOTT. The issue with your characterization, sir, is number one, someone who enters illegally must be convicted of illegally entering the country. Then they must be convicted of illegally reentering the country to get a felony conviction. There is no compulsion to charge the most serious layers of this offense. There is prosecutorial discretion.
Under this law, if someone is apprehended, they can be deported without any charging, and that is where the misconception and the mischaracterization is.
If someone is convicted of illegal reentry and deported and they come back, a prosecutor would have the discretion to charge the 10-year minimum. It is not compulsory. It is within the discretion but, yes, he would meet the element.
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Mr. KNOTT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I have heard a lot from the other side about costs, whether it be costs to law enforcement, costs to imprison, costs to society. I want to talk about the costs of open-border policies that is felt in this country.
In the year 1990, roughly 5,000 Americans died because of illegal drug use. Since the year 2000, almost 1.5 million Americans have lost their life because of using illegal drugs. Of course, there is involvement locally and domestically in the drug trade, but just about all drugs--statistically, all illegal drugs--come into the country illegally. That is just one category dealing with the cost of illegal immigration.
Any criminal code should have three objectives:
First, it should protect Americans. It should protect American children. It should protect American families, neighborhoods, and businesses from the ill effects of crime.
Second, it should punish illegal activity. When someone harms another American, there should be adequate and reciprocal punishment. It should be efficient, and it should work, again, to protect Americans.
Thirdly, it should deter ongoing criminal conduct in that same vein, repeat criminal offenses, or anyone who would want to copy criminal conduct to enrich themselves.
When you look at the scale of illegal immigration, when you look at the problems that are being inflicted upon this country across every metric, the criminal law is failing to protect Americans.
This bill, again, aims to target the committed criminals who are here illegally. There is no distinction under the current law for people who commit crimes when they are here illegally versus those who commit crimes who are citizens. That discrepancy enables hordes of illegal immigrants to come from around the world to harm Americans.
Again, I repeat, Mr. Raskin, in good faith and with sound logic, talked about robbery. He talked about property crimes. He talked about rape and murder. Some of these people have been convicted of rape, murder, property crimes after they have been deported. They return illegally and harm Americans.
This bill aims to preempt the harm Americans feel by committed illegal immigrant criminals.
Just this week, there was a release from the Department of Homeland Security. A 34-year-old gang member from Mexico had illegally entered the country 26 times. He has received convictions for burglary, tampering with government records, government witnesses, criminal enterprises, illegal reentry multiple times. When you look at cases like this that are so voluminous, it is hard to summarize. Again, the only conclusion--the only conclusion is the law is insufficient as it is currently drafted.
We are in Congress to make laws to protect Americans. When we have such gaping holes in our criminal justice law as it relates to illegal immigrant criminals, not dairy workers, not those who are not committing crimes, the conclusion is straightforward. We need to change the law.
My colleagues on the other side of the aisle candidly are twisting themselves into circles to defend the policies of the status quo. They want more illegal immigrants. They do not want stricter enforcement. They are turning every opportunity to resist the changes that Republicans and this President are trying to implement.
Again, as a Federal prosecutor in my previous career, I saw how illegal, unchecked immigration harmed every corner of my State and the country. When you have an open flow of illegal immigration, crime flourishes. It is hard to quantify the cost.
Again, with this bill, for any illegal immigrant to be under its effect, they must commit a felony and get convicted or they must illegally reenter--not enter--reenter after deportation. That is not a standard too high. That is not detached from logic.
Again, when you look at the goals of what all criminal laws should achieve, protecting Americans, punishing illegal activity, and to deter repeat offenses, this is a needed step to accompany the legitimate approach that the President has been implementing over the past few years.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this legislation.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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