[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 109 (Tuesday, September 14, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S9223]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. GRASSLEY:
  S. 2799. A bill to amend title 18 of the United States Code to 
increase the penalties for smuggling goods into the United States; to 
the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President. The safety and security of our Nation's 
borders has been on all of our minds lately. In the past, we have 
approached the problem in a stovepipe manner, focusing on what illegal 
items criminals were bringing across our borders. We need to begin 
thinking about these challenges differently.
  Increasingly, smuggling organizations do not tie themselves to the 
movement of one particular commodity, but are specialists in smuggling 
merchandise of any type into the United States undetected. So long as 
there is profit to be made, smugglers don't really care what they 
smuggle. If we are going to encourage effective investigations and 
prosecutions of these smuggling organizations, we must ensure 
sufficient penalties to send a clear message that smuggling--whether 
it's heroin, pirated CDs, AK-47s, or look-a-like designer hand bags--is 
wrong, and will be severely punished.
  Today I am introducing a bill that will do just that. It is very 
simple. Raise the penalty for smuggling contraband into the United 
States from a maximum of 5 years to a maximum of 20 years. This will 
give prosecutors and law enforcement agents a better tool to go after 
those who try and evade our customs, border, and port security efforts. 
If we are serious about securing our borders, then we need to be 
serious about punishing those who try and evade our controls. I urge my 
colleagues to join me in sponsoring this legislation.
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