[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 22, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H5576-H5580]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          ALIEN SMUGGLING AND TERRORISM PREVENTION ACT OF 2007

  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 2399) to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act and title 
18, United States Code, to combat the crime of alien smuggling and 
related activities, and for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 2399

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Alien Smuggling and 
     Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds that--
       (1) Alien smuggling by land, air and sea is a transnational 
     crime that violates the integrity of United States borders, 
     compromises our Nation's sovereignty, places the country at 
     risk of terrorist activity, and contravenes the rule of law.
       (2) Aggressive enforcement activity against alien smuggling 
     is needed to protect our borders and ensure the security of 
     our Nation. The border security and anti-smuggling efforts of 
     the men and women on the Nation's front line of defense are 
     to be commended. Special recognition is due the Department of 
     Homeland Security through the United States Border Patrol, 
     United States Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, and 
     Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Department of 
     Justice through the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
       (3) The law enforcement community must be given the 
     statutory tools necessary to address this security threat. 
     Only through effective alien smuggling statutes can the 
     Justice Department, through the United States Attorneys' 
     Offices and the Domestic Security Section of the Criminal 
     Division, prosecute these cases successfully.
       (4) Alien smuggling has a destabilizing effect on border 
     communities. State and local law enforcement, medical 
     personnel, social service providers, and the faith community 
     play important roles in combating smuggling and responding to 
     its effects.
       (5) Existing penalties for alien smuggling are insufficient 
     to provide appropriate punishment for alien smugglers.
       (6) Existing alien smuggling laws often fail to reach the 
     conduct of alien smugglers, transporters, recruiters, guides, 
     and boat captains.
       (7) Existing laws concerning failure to heave to are 
     insufficient to appropriately punish boat operators and crew 
     who engage in the reckless transportation of aliens on the 
     high seas and seek to evade capture.
       (8) Much of the conduct in alien smuggling rings occurs 
     outside of the United States. Extraterritorial jurisdiction 
     is needed to ensure that smuggling rings can be brought to 
     justice for recruiting, sending, and facilitating the 
     movement of those who seek to enter the United States without 
     lawful authority.
       (9) Alien smuggling can include unsafe or recklessly 
     dangerous conditions that expose individuals to particularly 
     high risk of injury or death.

     SEC. 3. CHECKS AGAINST TERRORIST WATCHLIST.

       The Department of Homeland Security shall, to the extent 
     practicable, check against all available terrorist watchlists 
     those alien smugglers and smuggled individuals who are 
     interdicted at the land, air, and sea borders of the United 
     States.

     SEC. 4. STRENGTHENING PROSECUTION AND PUNISHMENT OF ALIEN 
                   SMUGGLERS.

       Section 274(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
     U.S.C. 1324(a)) is amended--

[[Page H5577]]

       (1) by amending the subsection heading to read as follows: 
     ``Smuggling of Unlawful and Terrorist Aliens.--''
       (2) by redesignating clause (iv) of paragraph (1)(B) as 
     clause (vii);
       (3) in paragraph (1), by striking ``(1)(A)'' and all that 
     follows through clause (iii) of subparagraph (B) and 
     inserting the following:
       ``(1)(A) Whoever, knowing or in reckless disregard of the 
     fact that an individual is an alien who lacks lawful 
     authority to come to, enter, or reside in the United States, 
     knowingly--
       ``(i) brings that individual to the United States in any 
     manner whatsover regardless of any future official action 
     which may be taken with respect to such alien;
       ``(ii) recruits, encourages, or induces that individual to 
     come to, enter, or reside in the United States;
       ``(iii) transports or moves that individual in the United 
     States, in furtherance of their unlawful presence; or
       ``(iv) harbors, conceals, or shields from detection the 
     individual in any place in the United States, including any 
     building or any means of transportation;

     or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be punished as 
     provided in subparagraph (C).
       ``(B) Whoever, knowing that an individual is an alien, 
     brings that individual to the United States in any manner 
     whatsoever at a place other than a designated port of entry 
     or place other than as designated by the Secretary of 
     Homeland Security, regardless of whether such alien has 
     received prior official authorization to come to, enter, or 
     reside in the United States and regardless of any future 
     official action which may be taken with respect to such 
     alien, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be punished 
     as provided in subparagraph (C).
       ``(C) A violator of this paragraph shall, for each alien in 
     respect to whom such a violation occurs--
       ``(i) unless the offense is otherwise described in another 
     clause of this subparagraph, be fined under title 18, United 
     States Code or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both;
       ``(ii) if the offense involved the transit of the 
     defendant's spouse, child, sibling, parent, grandparent, or 
     niece or nephew, and the offense is not described in any of 
     clauses (iii) through (vii), be fined under title 18, United 
     States Code or imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both;
       ``(iii) if the offense is a violation of paragraphs 
     (1)(A)(ii), (iii), or (iv), or paragraph (1)(B), and was 
     committed for the purpose of profit, commercial advantage, or 
     private financial gain, be fined under title 18, United 
     States Code or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both;
       ``(iv) if the offense is a violation of paragraph (1)(A)(i) 
     and was committed for the purpose of profit, commercial 
     advantage, or private financial gain, or if the offense was 
     committed with the intent or reason to believe that the 
     individual unlawfully brought into the United States will 
     commit an offense against the United States or any State that 
     is punishable by imprisonment for more than 1 year, be fined 
     under title 18, United States Code, and imprisoned, in the 
     case of a first or second violation, not less than 3 nor more 
     than 10 years, and for any other violation, not less than 5 
     nor more than 15 years; and
       ``(v) if the offense results in serious bodily injury (as 
     defined in section 1365 of title 18, United States Code) or 
     places in jeopardy the life of any person, be fined under 
     title 18, United States Code or imprisoned not more than 20 
     years, or both;
       ``(vi) if the offense involved an individual who the 
     defendant knew was engaged in or intended to engage in 
     terrorist activity (as defined in section 212(a)(3)(B)), be 
     fined under title 18, United States Code or imprisoned not 
     more than 30 years, or both; and'';
       (4) in the clause (vii) so redesignated by paragraph (2) of 
     this subsection (which now becomes clause (vii) of the new 
     subparagraph (C))--
       (A) by striking ``in the case'' and all that follows 
     through ``(v) resulting'' and inserting ``if the offense 
     results''; and
       (B) by inserting ``and if the offense involves kidnaping, 
     an attempt to kidnap, the conduct required for aggravated 
     sexual abuse (as defined in section 2241 without regard to 
     where it takes place), or an attempt to commit such abuse, or 
     an attempt to kill, be fined under such title or imprisoned 
     for any term of years or life, or both'' after ``or both'' ; 
     and
       (5) by striking existing subparagraph (C) of paragraph (1) 
     (without affecting the new subparagraph (C) added by the 
     amendments made by this Act) and all that follows through 
     paragraph (2) and inserting the following:
       ``(2)(A) There is extraterritorial jurisdiction over the 
     offenses described in paragraph (1).
       ``(B) In a prosecution for a violation of, or an attempt or 
     conspiracy to violate subsection (a)(1)(A)(i), (a)(1(A)(ii), 
     or (a)(1)(B), that occurs on the high seas, no defense based 
     on necessity can be raised unless the defendant--
       ``(i) as soon as practicable, reported to the Coast Guard 
     the circumstances of the necessity, and if a rescue is 
     claimed, the name, description, registry number, and location 
     of the vessel engaging in the rescue; and
       ``(ii) did not bring, attempt to bring, or in any manner 
     intentionally facilitate the entry of any alien into the land 
     territory of the United States without lawful authority, 
     unless exigent circumstances existed that placed the life of 
     that alien in danger, in which case the reporting requirement 
     set forth in clause (i) of this subparagraph is satisfied by 
     notifying the Coast Guard as soon as practicable after 
     delivering the alien to emergency medical or law enforcement 
     personnel ashore.
       ``(C) It is a defense to a violation of, or an attempt or 
     conspiracy to violate, clause (iii) or (iv) of subsection 
     (a)(1)(A) for a religious denomination having a bona fide 
     nonprofit, religious organization in the United States, or 
     the agents or officer of such denomination or organization, 
     to encourage, invite, call, allow, or enable an alien who is 
     present in the United States to perform the vocation of a 
     minister or missionary for the denomination or organization 
     in the United States as a volunteer who is not compensated as 
     an employee, notwithstanding the provision of room, board, 
     travel, medical assistance, and other basic living expenses, 
     provided the minister or missionary has been a member of the 
     denomination for at least one year.
       ``(D) For purposes of this paragraph and paragraph (1)--
       ``(i) the term `United States' means the several States, 
     the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 
     Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, the 
     Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any other 
     territory or possession of the United States; and
       ``(ii) the term `lawful authority' means permission, 
     authorization, or waiver that is expressly provided for in 
     the immigration laws of the United States or the regulations 
     prescribed under those laws and does not include any such 
     authority secured by fraud or otherwise obtained in violation 
     of law or authority that has been sought but not approved.''.

     SEC. 5. MARITIME LAW ENFORCEMENT.

       (a) Penalties.--Subsection (b) of section 2237 of title 18, 
     United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
       ``(b)(1) Whoever intentionally violates this section shall, 
     unless the offense is described in paragraph (2), be fined 
     under this title or imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or 
     both.
       ``(2) If the offense--
       ``(A) is committed in the course of a violation of section 
     274 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (alien smuggling); 
     chapter 77 (peonage, slavery, and trafficking in persons), 
     section 111 (shipping), 111A (interference with vessels), 113 
     (stolen property), or 117 (transportation for illegal sexual 
     activity) of this title; chapter 705 (maritime drug law 
     enforcement) of title 46, or title II of the Act of June 15, 
     1917 (Chapter 30; 40 Stat. 220), the offender shall be fined 
     under this title or imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or 
     both;
       ``(B) results in serious bodily injury (as defined in 
     section 1365 of this title) or transportation under inhumane 
     conditions, the offender shall be fined under this title, 
     imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both; or
       ``(C) results in death or involves kidnaping, an attempt to 
     kidnap, the conduct required for aggravated sexual abuse (as 
     defined in section 2241 without regard to where it takes 
     place), or an attempt to commit such abuse, or an attempt to 
     kill, be fined under such title or imprisoned for any term of 
     years or life, or both .''.
       (b) Limitation on Necessity Defense.--Section 2237(c) of 
     title 18, United States Code, is amended--
       (1) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(c)'';
       (2) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(2) In a prosecution for a violation of this section, no 
     defense based on necessity can be raised unless the 
     defendant--
       ``(A) as soon as practicable upon reaching shore, delivered 
     the person with respect to which the necessity arose to 
     emergency medical or law enforcement personnel,
       ``(B) as soon as practicable, reported to the Coast Guard 
     the circumstances of the necessity resulting giving rise to 
     the defense; and
       ``(C) did not bring, attempt to bring, or in any manner 
     intentionally facilitate the entry of any alien, as that term 
     is defined in section 101(a)(3) of the Immigration and 
     Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 (a)(3)), into the land 
     territory of the United States without lawful authority, 
     unless exigent circumstances existed that placed the life of 
     that alien in danger, in which case the reporting requirement 
     of subparagraph (B) is satisfied by notifying the Coast Guard 
     as soon as practicable after delivering that person to 
     emergency medical or law enforcement personnel ashore.''.
       (c) Definition.--Section 2237(e) of title 18, United States 
     Code, is amended--
       (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (3);
       (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (4) and 
     inserting ``; and''; and
       (3) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(5) the term `transportation under inhumane conditions' 
     means the transportation of persons in an engine compartment, 
     storage compartment, or other confined space, transportation 
     at an excessive speed, transportation of a number of persons 
     in excess of the rated capacity of the means of 
     transportation, or intentionally grounding a vessel in which 
     persons are being transported.''.

     SEC. 6. AMENDMENT TO THE SENTENCING GUIDELINES.

       (a) In General.--Pursuant to its authority under section 
     994 of title 28, United States Code, and in accordance with 
     this section, the United States Sentencing Commission shall 
     review and, if appropriate, amend the

[[Page H5578]]

     sentencing guidelines and policy statements applicable to 
     persons convicted of alien smuggling offenses and criminal 
     failure to heave to or obstruction of boarding.
       (b) Considerations.--In carrying out this subsection, the 
     Sentencing Commission, shall--
       (1) consider providing sentencing enhancements or 
     stiffening existing enhancements for those convicted of 
     offenses described in paragraph (1) of this subsection that--
       (A) involve a pattern of continued and flagrant violations;
       (B) are part of an ongoing commercial organization or 
     enterprise;
       (C) involve aliens who were transported in groups of 10 or 
     more;
       (D) involve the transportation or abandonment of aliens in 
     a manner that endangered their lives; or
       (E) involve the facilitation of terrorist activity; and
       (2) consider cross-references to the guidelines for 
     Criminal Sexual Abuse and Attempted Murder.
       (c) Expedited Procedures.--The Commission may promulgate 
     the guidelines or amendments under this subsection in 
     accordance with the procedures set forth in section 21(a) of 
     the Sentencing Act of 1987, as though the authority under 
     that Act had not expired.

                              {time}  1530

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Sires). Pursuant to the rule, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Berman) and the gentleman from Florida 
(Mr. Keller) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to 
include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation gives Federal prosecutors and agents 
stronger enforcement weapons against the most pernicious forms of human 
smuggling, terrorism-related smuggling and smuggling that results in 
kidnapping, rape or an attempt to kill.
  This bill is based on a provision that has been added into H.R. 1684, 
the Homeland Security Department Reauthorization Act, in its committee 
markup. The supporters of that provision agreed to withdraw it from 
that bill so the Judiciary Committee, the committee of primary 
jurisdiction, could take a closer look.
  The resulting bill amends both 8 U.S.C. 1324, the alien smuggling 
prohibition, and 18 U.S.C. 2237, the prohibition against failure to 
heave to, to provide for extraterritorial jurisdiction, increase 
maximum penalties for serious offenses and clarify the necessity 
defense that applies to legitimate maritime rescues.
  This bill applies not just to human smuggling in the maritime 
context, but to all cross-border human smuggling. It provides 
appropriately tough penalties for the kind of serious smuggling 
offenses I've just described, while distinguishing those from other 
types of transport such as noncommercial efforts to reunify families. 
While these practices also violate our immigration laws, they do not 
fall into the same category of offense, and should not be treated as 
harshly.
  Although the bill streamlines and strengthens the current offense 
language, it does not abandon existing case law that applies to alien 
smuggling offenses. For instance, it will remain a violation of Federal 
law both to bring illegal aliens to the United States and to bring 
other aliens across the border through places other than those 
designated as official entry ports. This is especially critical as 
Congress mandates that the Department of Homeland Security institute 
biometric entry and exit systems. For an orderly and fair immigration 
system to work, people must come in through these sites.
  The bill also prevents the current list of illegal activities, 
smuggling, recruiting, transporting and harboring, without adding new 
activities, such as assisting aliens in their efforts to enter our 
country. Again, this preserves the distinction between true smuggling 
and the work of groups such as faith-based organizations, who seek to 
serve the alien community on humanitarian grounds.
  Because this important distinction is preserved, the Judiciary 
Committee believes the religious activities exception in current law is 
sufficient, and the bill doesn't expand it. The bill also preserves 
current law in treating the offense of helping to bring in one's close 
family members as a misdemeanor.
  The bill also establishes for the first time in Federal law that it 
is illegal to transport persons under inhumane conditions, such as in 
an engine compartment, a storage compartment or other confined space; 
or overloaded or intentionally run ashore and grounded at high speed 
and left to scatter. Those kinds of inhumane practices have resulted in 
death or serious injury to numerous alien passengers.
  Finally, the bill directs the Sentencing Commission to consider 
providing further sentencing enhancements for particularly egregious 
offenses. Such enhancements should reach the smuggling of aliens in a 
life-threatening manner, the abandonment of aliens in the desert or 
discharging them onto spits of land that will be submerged in a high 
tide, or those cases that involve the facilitation of terrorism.
  I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. KELLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise to discuss H.R. 2399, Alien Smuggling and 
Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007.
  Let me address a few basic issues about this legislation. First of 
all, what is alien smuggling? What is the existing law? What are the 
changes that we're proposing? And what, if any, are the problems that 
we need to fix with regard to this issue of alien smuggling?
  Well, let's begin with what is alien smuggling. Alien smuggling is 
the process whereby people often known as ``coyotes'' take someone from 
a country like Mexico and sneak them in, often under the cover of 
darkness, into the United States for an average fee currently of 
approximately $1,500 per person. It requires specialized skills; and 
folks often feel that they can't come over, say, from Mexico to 
California and bypass all the border security agents without having a 
coyote or alien smuggler to help them. So they often have their family 
members pay the $1,500 fee.
  I wanted to know more about this, so I personally went to the San 
Diego-Mexico border and spent a week traveling around at 2, 3 in the 
morning with Border Patrol agents as they arrested illegals and alien 
smugglers as they came across the border. And I learned from the Border 
Patrol agents that their biggest frustration is that they have arrested 
the same alien smugglers more than 20 times. In fact, the agents I met 
with were so demoralized they had what's called a wall of shame.
  And it's hard to see from where you sit, Mr. Speaker, but this is a 
wall showing over 200 photographs of alien smugglers who they have 
repeatedly arrested, some of them more than 20 times, such as Antonio 
Amparo Lopez. And it is currently the law that if you smuggle someone 
into the United States for financial gain you will be sent to Federal 
prison for a minimum of 3 years. And yet, agent after agent told me 
they arrest the same people and they weren't prosecuted by the local 
San Diego prosecutor.
  Well, the existing law, 3 years mandatory minimum if you smuggle 
someone into the United States. What does this bill do? It keeps the 
existing law at 3 years for smuggling someone in for financial gain, 
but adds some newer, stiffer penalties for certain people that you 
bring in. For example, if a smuggler brings someone in who is a known 
terrorist, then instead of being a mandatory 3 years in prison, you 
could be subjected to up to 30 years in prison.
  And here is the challenge that I want to talk a little bit about this 
issue and why it's so important: When Attorney General Gonzales came 
before the Judiciary Committee on April 6, 2006, I relayed to him the 
story that I just relayed to you, Mr. Speaker, about the problems with 
these alien smugglers not being prosecuted. I happen to have a 
transcript, and I said on April 6 to the Attorney General, ``The 
pathetic

[[Page H5579]]

failure of your U.S. attorney in San Diego to prosecute alien smugglers 
who have been arrested 20 times is a demoralizing slap in the face to 
Border Patrol agents who risk their lives every day. It also undermines 
the credibility that you and President Bush have when you talk tough 
about enforcing laws. And it renders meaningless the laws this Congress 
passes to crack down on alien smugglers.''
  Then I asked him, ``What, if anything, will you do to see that the 
U.S. attorney in San Diego prosecutes these alien smugglers, at least 
those that have been repeatedly arrested by Border Patrol agents?''
  This is what the Attorney General said: ``I'm aware of what you're 
talking about with respect to the San Diego situation and we are 
looking into it. We're asking all U.S. attorneys, particularly those on 
the southern border to do more, quite frankly. We need to be doing 
more.
  ``But the U.S. attorneys along the southern border tell me that the 
existing law regarding alien smugglers could be tighter. There is a 
discussion and debate now about what the language should be. No one 
wants to prosecute those who are engaged in Good Samaritan activities. 
We are looking into the situation in San Diego, and we are directing 
that our U.S. attorneys do more because you're right; if people are 
coming across the border repeatedly, particularly those who are coyotes 
and they're smugglers or they're criminals or felons, they ought to be 
prosecuted.''
  Now, I bring this up because there happen to be a few of us in 
Congress, and I happen to be one, who are pretty familiar with this 
issue of alien smuggling, familiar enough, having been there and talked 
with the Attorney General, talked with the Border Patrol agents. But we 
didn't have any input to this legislation.
  I have the bill before us that we are debating. This is the last 
version, the one we're debating on. And the date on it is May 22, at 
1:35 p.m. It is now 3:40 p.m. It's as thick as a small town phone book, 
and yet we've only had it for a couple of hours. There have been no 
hearings. No subcommittee markup. No full committee markup.
  Now, I'm not someone who usually gets up and complains about process, 
but this is an example where someone like me and others of the 
committee could have been quite helpful if we had had hearings, could 
have had a markup. There are a couple of major flaws in this bill that 
I'll talk about. And I say this in good spirit. I'm going to actually 
vote for this bill because I think your intentions are correct. But let 
me just give you two examples.
  First, if you help smuggle in a terrorist, you can go to jail for up 
to 30 years. Under the language of this bill, you have to show that the 
smuggler knew that the person was a terrorist and knew that he intended 
to engage in terrorist activities.
  Now, you don't have to be Johnny Cochran to successfully defend a 
defendant in that particular case. The standard is just almost 
impossible for a prosecutor to prove. For example, let's say that you 
have Mohammad Atta on the stand, and he's just been detained by a 
Border Patrol agent and we want to apply this new provision.
  If I was the defense attorney, my first question to the Border Patrol 
agent would be, Mr. Border Patrol Agent, you've arrested my client. You 
want to send him to prison for 30 years. Did Mr. Atta show you his al 
Qaeda ID card? No? Did Mr. Atta show you the picture that he has with 
Bin Laden and his family? No? Did he show you some videotape showing 
him on the monkey bars in the Afghanistan training camps? No? Well, if 
not, how do you know with mathematical certainty that this guy is a 
terrorist?
  It's almost impossible to prove.
  That's an example of something we could have fixed during the markup, 
saying, if you brought this person into the country for financial gain 
and he's a member of the terrorist watch list, we're going to give you 
an enhanced sentence up to 30 years. But we didn't have that chance 
because there was no markup.
  Another thing that's flawed is, it doesn't fix the Good Samaritan 
exception. There's language in this bill that talks about Good 
Samaritans. Specifically, it says it is a defense, if you are arrested 
for a religious organization or one of its members to provide room, 
board, travel, medical assistance or other basic living expenses. 
That's the situation of a nun, for example, helping someone who's going 
to die out there in the 110-degree heat. We all believe that that 
should be provided.
  But I read you the transcript of the Attorney General; he said, 
because this Good Samaritan exception needs to be tightened, and it 
does. For example, under this law, because you didn't talk with us 
about fixing it, if you are a member of the Red Cross or you're a 
member of the United Way, which is not religious affiliated, you could 
still be prosecuted.
  Now, none of us wants that to happen.
  My point is, as this bill moves forward, I'm willing to support it 
because I support the intent behind it. I support getting tough with 
alien smugglers. But the bottom line is, we need to fix this in 
conference. We need to work with Republicans and Democrats to include 
our input to make sure that at the end the day we have a much better 
bill that we can be proud of.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from 
Indiana, the sponsor of the legislation, Mr. Hill.
  (Mr. HILL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Conyers and Chairman 
Thompson and Chairman Oberstar for working with me to draft this 
legislation. The staff has been extremely helpful, and I'm very pleased 
with the outcome of this bill.
  The Alien Smuggling and Terrorism Prevention Act would provide all 
levels of law enforcement with the tools they need to detain those who 
knowingly bring illegal aliens into our country.
  Additionally, it would provide prosecutors and judges with clear 
proof and sentencing guidelines. The bill also significantly enhances 
penalties for illegal alien smuggling. The crime is raised from a 
misdemeanor to a felony under this bill.
  It is estimated that there are currently more than 20 million illegal 
immigrants in this country. The cost of illegal immigration to our 
health care system, public education system, prison system and social 
services continues to rise without any sign of stopping or slowing.
  We must reform our immigration system to make it more efficient and 
effective. This bill is the first step towards doing so.

                              {time}  1545

  It concentrates on easing the job of law enforcement, and it is my 
hope that this bill will act as a deterrent for illegal-alien 
smugglers.
  In addition to this bill, Congress must enact tough, comprehensive 
immigration reform that does not award illegal aliens with amnesty. We 
need to make sure that employers who hire illegal aliens are punished, 
and we need to strengthen our border security.
  At the same time, however, we must remember that legal immigration 
has served America well. America was built by hardworking people from 
all over the world. Many of them played by the rules and prospered 
while helping to build a stronger America, and our national immigration 
policies must reflect this reality. As long as immigrants enter our 
country legally, abide by our laws, and work hard to strengthen our 
communities, I believe they have a right to live in this Nation.
  But the personal safety and well-being of all citizens, as well as 
the security of U.S. jobs, are my chief concern. Therefore, I strongly 
urge passage of H.R. 2399, the Alien Smuggling and Terrorism Prevention 
Act.
  Mr. KELLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for 
time, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the chairman of the 
Homeland Security Committee, the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. 
Thompson).
  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. I appreciate the yielding of the time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Alien Smuggling and 
Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007.
  During consideration of the Homeland Security authorization bill 
earlier this month, I made a commitment to my colleagues that the House 
would

[[Page H5580]]

have the opportunity to vote on maritime smuggling legislation. I am 
pleased to have been able to work with the Judiciary and Transportation 
Committees to craft this critical homeland security legislation. It 
addresses not only alien smuggling at sea, but also alien smuggling by 
land and air.
  Specifically, the Alien Smuggling and Terrorism Prevention Act 
includes tough new penalties for those who recruit, encourage, 
transport, or shield from detection aliens who cross our land, 
maritime, or air borders illegally. These enhanced penalties are 
essential to discouraging criminals from building tunnels in remote 
parts of the desert to smuggle aliens across our borders.
  We know that the same people that smuggle drugs into our country are 
ready and willing to smuggle individuals who would do us harm. In fact, 
in January we learned of a plot to smuggle about 20 would-be terrorists 
into the United States from Mexico for $8,000 a head. The drug dealers 
called them ``Osama's guys.''
  The bill requires that interdicted smugglers and aliens be run 
against all available terrorist watch lists. This is an important step 
in protecting America from terrorists.
  I would especially like to commend the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. 
Hill) for authoring this commonsense enforcement legislation. He is to 
be commended for his commitment to border security.
  Again, Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for working together on 
this important legislation and urge all Members to give it their 
support.
  Mr. KELLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Indiana (Mr. Donnelly).
  Mr. DONNELLY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of my 
friend Mr. Hill's bill to get tough on criminals who undermine our 
Nation's safety.
  Mr. Speaker, the Alien Smuggling and Terrorism Prevention Act is a 
commonsense bill whose time is overdue. This legislation clarifies 
current law and would more severely punish those criminals who smuggle 
illegal aliens into our country, lengthening the amount of time they 
would have to be imprisoned and providing strong new sentences for 
those who assist terrorists.
  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Hill's bill recognizes that there must be real 
penalties for people who break our laws. When it comes to our 
immigration policies, we first need to prove to Americans that we can 
secure our borders against intruders and provide strong enforcement of 
existing laws. We need to get law enforcement and Federal agents all 
the tools they need to do their jobs effectively.
  We should provide the resources and technology our businesses need to 
better verify the citizenship of potential employees and crack down on 
employers who knowingly flout workplace laws. We must not provide 
amnesty for those who have broken our laws. And, Mr. Speaker, I regret 
that the recent proposal on comprehensive immigration reform in the 
Senate does not appear to have passed these tests.
  I strongly urge my colleagues today to vote for H.R. 2399.
  Mr. KELLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to vote 
``yes'' on this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, I only want to make two points. The gentleman from 
Florida gave a discussion about the legislation and put it into the 
context of the Southern District of San Diego, and I just did want to 
note for the record that the Department of Justice that decided to 
recommend the U.S. attorney's termination had commended her 
specifically for her handling of immigration cases.
  And the second point I guess I wanted to make on this issue was would 
it be that the people in charge had ensured that the offices most 
impacted by illegal immigration and by illegal alien smuggling and 
those districts on the border of this country had been given the 
resources to the Justice Department disbursed to the U.S. Attorney's 
Office so they weren't held under hiring freezes and constrained to try 
to deal with an enormous issue with a very limited number of 
prosecutors.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Berman) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 2399, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this question will 
be postponed.

                          ____________________