House Votes to Add U.S. Attorneys to Prosecute Human Smugglers
September 21, 2006 - Washington, DC – 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.
The text of the Alien Smuggler Prosecution Act contained in H.R. 6095 follows below:
TITLE II--ALIEN SMUGGLER PROSECUTION ACT
SEC. 201. EFFECTIVE PROSECUTION OF ALIEN SMUGGLERS.
(a) Findings- The Congress finds as follows:
(1) Recent experience shows that alien smuggling is flourishing, is increasingly violent, and is highly profitable.
(2) Alien smuggling operations also present terrorist and criminal organizations with opportunities for smuggling their members into the United States practically at will.
(3) Alien smuggling is a lucrative business. Each year, criminal organizations that smuggle or traffic in persons are estimated to generate $9,500,000,000 in revenue worldwide.
(4) Alien smuggling frequently involves dangerous and inhumane conditions for smuggled aliens. Migrants are frequently abused or exploited, both during their journey and upon reaching the United States. Consequently, aliens smuggled into the United States are at significant risk of physical injury, abuse, and death.
(5) Notwithstanding that alien smuggling poses a risk to the United States as a whole, uniform guidelines for the prosecution of smuggling offenses are not employed by the various United States attorneys. Understanding that border-area United States attorneys face an overwhelming workload, a lack of sufficient prosecutions by certain United States attorneys has encouraged additional smuggling, and demoralized Border Patrol officers charged with enforcing our anti-smuggling laws.
(b) Sense of Congress- It is the sense of the Congress that the Attorney General should adopt, not later than 3 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, uniform guidelines for the prosecution of smuggling offenses to be followed by each United States attorney in the United States.
(c) Additional Personnel- In each of the fiscal years 2008 through 2013, the Attorney General shall, subject to the availability of appropriations, increase by not less than 20 the number of attorneys in the offices of United States attorneys employed to prosecute cases under section 274 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324), as compared to the previous fiscal year.
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