House Votes to Add U.S. Attorneys to Prosecute Human Smugglers

House Votes to Add U.S. Attorneys to Prosecute Human Smugglers

Congressman Darrell Issa, today, applauded the U.S. House of Representatives for acting to authorize the addition of 20 more U.S. Attorneys to prosecute alien smugglers for each year from 2008 through 2013. The measure was included as part of H.R. 6095 that the House approved by a vote of 277-140.

Congressman Issa made the following statement in the Congressional Record:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6095, the "Immigration Law Enforcement Act of 2006." This legislation takes an important step toward greater prosecution of human smugglers, known as "coyotes," and I thank Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner for bringing this legislation before us. This legislation also authorizes state and local cooperation with Federal immigration enforcement efforts, as well as helping to end the catch-and-release of criminal aliens.

I have spoken about the need for increased prosecution of coyotes many times. I have corresponded numerous times with the Attorney General on the subject imploring increased prosecution. Last year I introduced the Criminal Alien Accountability Act that would stiffen the penalties for coyotes and other criminal aliens. My legislation was incorporated in large part into H.R. 4437, the "Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005," which passed the House last December. However, major roadblocks impeding the prosecution of coyotes remain, and they are the lack of acceptance of these cases by U.S. Attorneys and a lack of uniform prosecution guidelines among the U.S. Attorney offices along the Southern border.

The U.S. Attorney's Office has stated in the past that it does not have the resources needed to fully prosecute arrested coyotes. For example, the Border Patrol was instructed to release known coyote, Antonio Amparo-Lopez, an individual with 21 aliases and 20 arrests. Releasing a criminal such as this is completely unacceptable, and is demoralizing to the Border Patrol agents who work so hard to make the arrests in the first place.

I, along with Chairman Sensenbrenner, recently met with U.S. Border Patrol Sector Chief Darryl Griffin and U.S. Attorney Carol Lam in San Diego to discuss these problems. Our meetings demonstrated the differences in opinion between those who arrest human smugglers and those who prosecute them. Importantly, we learned that U.S. Attorney offices have varying prosecution guidelines for human smugglers depending on where the office is located. This causes smugglers to use access points in states with weaker prosecution standards, increasing the criminal element in those communities.

H.R. 6095 calls on the Attorney General to adopt uniform guidelines for the prosecution of smuggling offenses. This change could help lessen the burden on borders areas within the United States that currently are overrun by coyote operations, in addition to reducing smuggling in total. Additionally, H.R. 6095 authorizes 20 new U.S. attorneys for each year from FY 2008 through FY 2013 to help prosecute human smuggling offenses.

I will continue to work with others in Congress, the Administration, and the public at large to ensure the prosecution and removal of every criminal alien that is apprehended.

http://issa.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressOffice.View&ContentRecord_id=419&Region_id=0&Issue_id=0&CFID=23856943&CFTOKEN=69510613