I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2271 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to improve enforcement 

of restrictions on employment in the United States of unauthorized 

aliens and to reimburse State and local governments for costs associated 

with serving illegal aliens. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 10, 2007 

Mr. GONZALEZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, Oversight and Government Reform, Education and Labor, and 

Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to improve 

enforcement of restrictions on employment in the United 

States of unauthorized aliens and to reimburse State 

and local governments for costs associated with serving 

illegal aliens. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Unlawful Employers 

3 Accountability and Illegal Alien State Reimbursement Act 

4 of 2007’’. 

5 SEC. 2. COMPLIANCE WITH RESPECT TO THE UNLAWFUL 

6 EMPLOYMENT OF ALIENS. 

7 (a) CIVIL PENALTY.—Paragraph (4) of subsection 

8 (e) of section 274A of the Immigration and Nationality 

9 Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a) is amended to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘(4) CEASE AND DESIST ORDER WITH CIVIL

11 MONEY PENALTY FOR HIRING, RECRUITING, AND RE12 FERRAL VIOLATIONS.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—With respect to a vio14 lation by any person or other entity of sub15 section (a)(1)(A) or (a)(2), the Secretary of 

16 Homeland Security shall require such person or 

17 such entity to cease and desist from such viola18 tions and to pay a civil penalty in the amount 

19 specified in subparagraph (B). 

20 ‘‘(B) AMOUNT OF CIVIL PENALTY.— 

21 ‘‘(i) SCHEDULE OF PENALTIES BASED

22 ON THE NUMBER OF UNAUTHORIZED

23 ALIENS.—For each occurrence of a viola24 tion of subsection (a)(1)(A) or (a)(2) with 

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1 section, the civil penalty shall be the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(I) For a violation with respect 

4 to one unauthorized alien, $5,000. 

5 ‘‘(II) For a violation with respect 

6 to greater than or equal to 2 such 

7 aliens but less than or equal to 10 

8 such aliens, $5,000 for each such 

9 alien. 

10 ‘‘(III) For a violation with re11 spect to greater than or equal to 11 

12 such aliens but less than or equal to 

13 25 such aliens, $15,000 for each such 

14 alien. 

15 ‘‘(IV) For a violation with re16 spect to greater than or equal to 26 

17 such aliens but less than or equal to 

18 50 such aliens, $25,000 for each such 

19 alien. 

20 ‘‘(V) For a violation with respect 

21 to greater than or equal to 51 such 

22 aliens but less than or equal to 75 

23 such aliens, $35,000 for each such 

24 alien. 


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1 ‘‘(VI) For a violation with re2 spect to greater than 75 such aliens, 

3 $50,000 for each such alien. 

4 ‘‘(ii) ADDITIONAL AMOUNTS FOR

5 COSTS OF REMOVAL.—In the event of the 

6 removal of an alien from the United States 

7 based on findings developed in connection 

8 with the assessment or collection of a pen9 alty under this paragraph, the costs in10 curred by the Federal Government, cooper11 ating State and local governments, and 

12 State and local law enforcement agencies 

13 in connection with such removal shall be 

14 added to the amount of the penalty speci15 fied under clause (i). 

16 ‘‘(C) DISTINCT, PHYSICALLY SEPARATE

17 SUBDIVISIONS.—In applying this subsection in 

18 the case of a person or other entity composed 

19 of distinct, physically separate subdivisions each 

20 of which provides separately for the hiring, re21 cruiting, or referring for employment, without 

22 reference to the practices of, and not under the 

23 control of or common control with, another sub24 division, each such subdivision shall be consid25 ered a separate person or other entity.’’. 


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1 (b) DENIAL OF AGRICULTURAL ASSISTANCE FOR

2 VIOLATORS.—Section 274A of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a) 

3 is further amended by adding at the end the following new 

4 subsection: 

5 ‘‘(i) DENIAL OF AGRICULTURAL ASSISTANCE FOR

6 VIOLATORS.—In the case of a violation of subsection 

7 (a)(1)(A) or (a)(2) by an agricultural association, agricul8 tural employer, or farm labor contractor (as defined in 

9 section 3 of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Work10 er Protection Act (29 U.S.C. 1802)), such association, em11 ployer, or contractor shall be ineligible for agricultural as12 sistance described in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of sec13 tion 1211(a) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 

14 3811(a)) for a period not to exceed 5 years.’’. 

15 (c) GOOD FAITH DEFENSE.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 274A of the Immi17 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a) is fur18 ther amended— 

19 (A) by striking subsection (a)(3); and 

20 (B) by striking subsection (b)(6). 

21 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 

22 274A of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a) is further 

23 amended— 


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1 (A) in subsection (a)(5), by striking ‘‘para2 graphs (1)(B) and (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘para3 graph (1)(B)’’; and 

4 (B) in subsection (b)— 

5 (i) in the matter preceding paragraph 

6 (1), by striking ‘‘paragraphs (1)(B) and 

7 (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph (1)(B)’’; 

8 and 

9 (ii) by striking paragraph (6). 

10 (d) DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland 

12 Security shall establish, maintain, and regularly up13 date a publicly accessible website that contains a list 

14 of persons or other entities that the Secretary has 

15 determined to have been in violation of subsection 

16 (a)(1)(A) or (a)(2) of section 274A of the Immigra17 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a) in the 

18 preceding 5 years. 

19 (2) CONTENTS OF WEBSITE.—Such website 

20 shall contain, with respect to each such person or 

21 entity, the following information: 

22 (A) The name, address, and telephone 

23 number of the person or entity. 


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1 (B) The names of the owners, chief execu2 tive officers, or other similar officers of the per3 son or entity. 

4 (C) The number of unauthorized aliens (as 

5 defined in section 274A(h)(3) of such Act (8 

6 U.S.C. 1324a(h)(3))) found to be employed by 

7 the person or entity. 

8 (D) The aggregate dollar amount that the 

9 person or entity has received in the preceding 

10 5 years under any Federal contract. 

11 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

12 subsections (a), (b), and (c) shall take effect 30 days after 

13 the date of the enactment of this Act and shall apply to 

14 violations occurring on or after such effective date. 

15 SEC. 3. DEBARMENT FROM GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS FOR 

16 EMPLOYERS OF UNAUTHORIZED ALIENS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 274A of the Immigration 

18 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a), as amended by sec19 tion 2(b), is amended by adding at the end the following 

20 new subsection: 

21 ‘‘(j) GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS.—If a person or 

22 other entity is determined by the Secretary of Homeland 

23 Security to be a repeat violator of this section, or is subject 

24 to criminal penalties under subsection (f)(1), the person 

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1 eral contracts (and subcontracts entered into (at any tier) 

2 under such contracts) for a period of 5 years.’’. 

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 274A(j) of the Im4 migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(j)), as 

5 added by subsection (a), shall apply with respect to con6 tracts and subcontracts entered into after the expiration 

7 of the 90-day period beginning on the date of enactment 

8 of this Act. 

9 SEC. 4. REIMBURSING STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS 

10 FOR COSTS OF SERVING ILLEGAL ALIENS. 

11 (a) MAKING PAYMENTS TO STATES.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days fol13 lowing the end of the fiscal year, the Secretary shall 

14 make a payment to each eligible State in an amount 

15 equal to the amount credited as of the end of the 

16 fiscal year to the account of the State within the Il17 legal Alien State Reimbursement Fund as described 

18 in paragraph (2). 

19 (2) ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF ILLE20 GAL ALIEN STATE REIMBURSEMENT FUND.— 

21 (A) ESTABLISHMENT OF FUND.—The Sec22 retary shall establish a designated fund in the 

23 Treasury of the United States to be known as 

24 the ‘‘Illegal Alien State Reimbursement Fund’’ 

25 (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Fund’’). 


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1 (B) STATE ACCOUNTS.—The Secretary 

2 shall create a separate account within the Fund 

3 for each State that is an eligible State during 

4 the fiscal year. 

5 (C) ALLOCATION METHOD.—If any 

6 amount is received from an employer of an un7 authorized alien for a violation of section 

8 274A(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 

9 Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(a)) and if the violation oc10 curred in an eligible State, the Secretary shall 

11 credit the account of that eligible State using 

12 the following formula: 

13 (i) If the violation occurs in a single 

14 eligible State, the Secretary shall credit the 

15 account of that eligible State with an 

16 amount equal to 75% of the amount re17 ceived. 

18 (ii) If the violation occurs in multiple 

19 eligible States, the Secretary shall divide 

20 the amount described in clause (i) by the 

21 number of eligible States where the viola22 tion occurred and shall credit the account 

23 of each eligible State with an equal share. 

24 (b) REQUIREMENTS FOR USE AND REDISTRIBUTION

25 OF PAYMENTS.— 


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1 (1) USE OF PAYMENTS SPECIFIED.—A payment 

2 received under this section shall be used solely for 

3 payments to local educational agencies (as defined in 

4 section 9101(26) of the Elementary and Secondary 

5 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801(26))), pub6 lic health care providers, and law enforcement agen7 cies for the purpose of assisting State and local gov8 ernments with meeting the costs associated with 

9 serving aliens who are unlawfully present in the 

10 United States. 

11 (2) REDISTRIBUTION OF PAYMENT TO COUN12 TIES AND UNITS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—An eligi13 ble State shall redistribute 66 percent of the pay14 ment received under this section, within 60 days of 

15 receipt by the State, to appropriate counties and 

16 units of local government in accordance with a sys17 tem that the State shall develop that provides for 

18 opportunities for input from all counties and units 

19 of local government in the state and that targets the 

20 areas of greatest need in accordance with the pur21 pose described in paragraph (1), based on objective 

22 criteria. 

23 (c) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this section, 

24 the following definitions apply: 


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1 (1) ELIGIBLE STATE.—The term ‘‘eligible 

2 State’’ means a State that agrees— 

3 (A) to use the payment received under this 

4 section for the uses specified in subsection 

5 (b)(1); 

6 (B) to redistribute the payment received 

7 under this section to counties and units of local 

8 government in accordance with subsection 

9 (b)(2); 

10 (C) to require that any county or unit of 

11 local government to whom a payment is redis12 tributed shall use the payment for the uses 

13 specified in subsection (b)(1); and 

14 (D) to submit information and assurances 

15 at such time and in such form as the Secretary 

16 may require. 

17 (2) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes each 

18 State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 

19 of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, and the 

20 United States Virgin Islands. 

21 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

22 the Secretary of the Treasury. 


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1 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall take effect 

2 at the beginning of the next fiscal year following the date 

3 of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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