110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2399 

AN ACT 

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. 

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 ‘‘Alien Smuggling and 

3 Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds that— 

6 (1) Alien smuggling by land, air and sea is a 

7 transnational crime that violates the integrity of 

8 United States borders, compromises our Nation’s 

9 sovereignty, places the country at risk of terrorist 

10 activity, and contravenes the rule of law. 

11 (2) Aggressive enforcement activity against 

12 alien smuggling is needed to protect our borders and 

13 ensure the security of our Nation. The border secu14 rity and anti-smuggling efforts of the men and 

15 women on the Nation’s front line of defense are to 

16 be commended. Special recognition is due the De17 partment of Homeland Security through the United 

18 States Border Patrol, United States Coast Guard, 

19 Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration 

20 and Customs Enforcement, and the Department of 

21 Justice through the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

22 (3) The law enforcement community must be 

23 given the statutory tools necessary to address this 

24 security threat. Only through effective alien smug25 gling statutes can the Justice Department, through 

26 the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Domes-
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1 tic Security Section of the Criminal Division, pros2 ecute these cases successfully. 

3 (4) Alien smuggling has a destabilizing effect 

4 on border communities. State and local law enforce5 ment, medical personnel, social service providers, 

6 and the faith community play important roles in 

7 combating smuggling and responding to its effects. 

8 (5) Existing penalties for alien smuggling are 

9 insufficient to provide appropriate punishment for 

10 alien smugglers. 

11 (6) Existing alien smuggling laws often fail to 

12 reach the conduct of alien smugglers, transporters, 

13 recruiters, guides, and boat captains. 

14 (7) Existing laws concerning failure to heave to 

15 are insufficient to appropriately punish boat opera16 tors and crew who engage in the reckless transpor17 tation of aliens on the high seas and seek to evade 

18 capture. 

19 (8) Much of the conduct in alien smuggling 

20 rings occurs outside of the United States. 

21 Extraterritorial jurisdiction is needed to ensure that 

22 smuggling rings can be brought to justice for re23 cruiting, sending, and facilitating the movement of 

24 those who seek to enter the United States without 

25 lawful authority. 
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1 (9) Alien smuggling can include unsafe or reck2 lessly dangerous conditions that expose individuals 

3 to particularly high risk of injury or death. 

4 SEC. 3. CHECKS AGAINST TERRORIST WATCHLIST. 

5 The Department of Homeland Security shall, to the 

6 extent practicable, check against all available terrorist 

7 watchlists those alien smugglers and smuggled individuals 

8 who are interdicted at the land, air, and sea borders of 

9 the United States. 

10 SEC. 4. STRENGTHENING PROSECUTION AND PUNISHMENT 

11 OF ALIEN SMUGGLERS. 

12 Section 274(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 

13 Act (8 U.S.C. 1324(a)) is amended— 

14 (1) by amending the subsection heading to read 

15 as follows: ‘‘SMUGGLING OF UNLAWFUL AND TER16 RORIST ALIENS.—’’; 

17 (2) by redesignating clause (iv) of paragraph 

18 (1)(B) as clause (vii); 

19 (3) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘(1)(A)’’ and 

20 all that follows through clause (iii) of subparagraph 

21 (B) and inserting the following: 

22 ‘‘(1)(A) Whoever, knowing or in reckless disregard of 

23 the fact that an individual is an alien who lacks lawful 

24 authority to come to, enter, or reside in the United States, 

25 knowingly— 
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1 ‘‘(i) brings that individual to the United States 

2 in any manner whatsover regardless of any future 

3 official action which may be taken with respect to 

4 such alien; 

5 ‘‘(ii) recruits, encourages, or induces that indi6 vidual to come to, enter, or reside in the United 

7 States; 

8 ‘‘(iii) transports or moves that individual in the 

9 United States, in furtherance of their unlawful pres10 ence; or 

11 ‘‘(iv) harbors, conceals, or shields from detec12 tion the individual in any place in the United States, 

13 including any building or any means of transpor14 tation; 

15 or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be punished as 

16 provided in subparagraph (C). 

17 ‘‘(B) Whoever, knowing that an individual is an alien, 

18 brings that individual to the United States in any manner 

19 whatsoever at a place other than a designated port of 

20 entry or place other than as designated by the Secretary 

21 of Homeland Security, regardless of whether such alien 

22 has received prior official authorization to come to, enter, 

23 or reside in the United States and regardless of any future 

24 official action which may be taken with respect to such 
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1 alien, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be punished 

2 as provided in subparagraph (C). 

3 ‘‘(C) A violator of this paragraph shall, for each alien 

4 in respect to whom such a violation occurs— 

5 ‘‘(i) unless the offense is otherwise described in 

6 another clause of this subparagraph, be fined under 

7 title 18, United States Code or imprisoned not more 

8 than 5 years, or both; 

9 ‘‘(ii) if the offense involved the transit of the 

10 defendant’s spouse, child, sibling, parent, grand11 parent, or niece or nephew, and the offense is not 

12 described in any of clauses (iii) through (vii), be 

13 fined under title 18, United States Code or impris14 oned not more than 1 year, or both; 

15 ‘‘(iii) if the offense is a violation of paragraphs 

16 (1)(A)(ii), (iii), or (iv), or paragraph (1)(B), and 

17 was committed for the purpose of profit, commercial 

18 advantage, or private financial gain, be fined under 

19 title 18, United States Code or imprisoned not more 

20 than 10 years, or both; 

21 ‘‘(iv) if the offense is a violation of paragraph 

22 (1)(A)(i) and was committed for the purpose of prof23 it, commercial advantage, or private financial gain, 

24 or if the offense was committed with the intent or 

25 reason to believe that the individual unlawfully 
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1 brought into the United States will commit an of2 fense against the United States or any State that is 

3 punishable by imprisonment for more than 1 year, 

4 be fined under title 18, United States Code, and im5 prisoned, in the case of a first or second violation, 

6 not less than 3 nor more than 10 years, and for any 

7 other violation, not less than 5 nor more than 15 

8 years; and 

9 ‘‘(v) if the offense results in serious bodily in10 jury (as defined in section 1365 of title 18, United 

11 States Code) or places in jeopardy the life of any 

12 person, be fined under title 18, United States Code 

13 or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both; 

14 ‘‘(vi) if the offense involved an individual who 

15 the defendant knew was engaged in or intended to 

16 engage in terrorist activity (as defined in section 

17 212(a)(3)(B)), be fined under title 18, United States 

18 Code or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both; 

19 and’’; 

20 (4) in the clause (vii) so redesignated by para21 graph (2) of this subsection (which now becomes 

22 clause (vii) of the new subparagraph (C))— 

23 (A) by striking ‘‘in the case’’ and all that 

24 follows through ‘‘(v) resulting’’ and inserting 

25 ‘‘if the offense results’’; and 
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1 (B) by inserting ‘‘and if the offense in2 volves kidnaping, an attempt to kidnap, the 

3 conduct required for aggravated sexual abuse 

4 (as defined in section 2241 without regard to 

5 where it takes place), or an attempt to commit 

6 such abuse, or an attempt to kill, be fined 

7 under such title or imprisoned for any term of 

8 years or life, or both’’ after ‘‘or both’’; and 

9 (5) by striking existing subparagraph (C) of 

10 paragraph (1) (without affecting the new subpara11 graph (C) added by the amendments made by this 

12 Act) and all that follows through paragraph (2) and 

13 inserting the following: 

14 ‘‘(2)(A) There is extraterritorial jurisdiction over the 

15 offenses described in paragraph (1). 

16 ‘‘(B) In a prosecution for a violation of, or an attempt 

17 or conspiracy to violate subsection (a)(1)(A)(i), 

18 (a)(1)(A)(ii), or (a)(1)(B), that occurs on the high seas, 

19 no defense based on necessity can be raised unless the de20 fendant— 

21 ‘‘(i) as soon as practicable, reported to the 

22 Coast Guard the circumstances of the necessity, and 

23 if a rescue is claimed, the name, description, registry 

24 number, and location of the vessel engaging in the 

25 rescue; and 
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1 ‘‘(ii) did not bring, attempt to bring, or in any 

2 manner intentionally facilitate the entry of any alien 

3 into the land territory of the United States without 

4 lawful authority, unless exigent circumstances ex5 isted that placed the life of that alien in danger, in 

6 which case the reporting requirement set forth in 

7 clause (i) of this subparagraph is satisfied by noti8 fying the Coast Guard as soon as practicable after 

9 delivering the alien to emergency medical or law en10 forcement personnel ashore. 

11 ‘‘(C) It is a defense to a violation of, or an attempt 

12 or conspiracy to violate, clause (iii) or (iv) of subsection 

13 (a)(1)(A) for a religious denomination having a bona fide 

14 nonprofit, religious organization in the United States, or 

15 the agents or officer of such denomination or organization, 

16 to encourage, invite, call, allow, or enable an alien who 

17 is present in the United States to perform the vocation 

18 of a minister or missionary for the denomination or orga19 nization in the United States as a volunteer who is not 

20 compensated as an employee, notwithstanding the provi21 sion of room, board, travel, medical assistance, and other 

22 basic living expenses, provided the minister or missionary 

23 has been a member of the denomination for at least one 

24 year. 
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1 ‘‘(D) For purposes of this paragraph and paragraph 

2 (1)— 

3 ‘‘(i) the term ‘United States’ means the several 

4 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 

5 of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United 

6 States Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the 

7 Northern Mariana Islands, and any other territory 

8 or possession of the United States; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘lawful authority’ means permis10 sion, authorization, or waiver that is expressly pro11 vided for in the immigration laws of the United 

12 States or the regulations prescribed under those 

13 laws and does not include any such authority se14 cured by fraud or otherwise obtained in violation of 

15 law or authority that has been sought but not ap16 proved.’’. 

17 SEC. 5. MARITIME LAW ENFORCEMENT. 

18 (a) PENALTIES.—Subsection (b) of section 2237 of 

19 title 18, United States Code, is amended to read as fol20 lows: 

21 ‘‘(b)(1) Whoever intentionally violates this section 

22 shall, unless the offense is described in paragraph (2), be 

23 fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than 5 

24 years, or both. 

25 ‘‘(2) If the offense— 
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1 ‘‘(A) is committed in the course of a violation 

2 of section 274 of the Immigration and Nationality 

3 Act (alien smuggling); chapter 77 (peonage, slavery, 

4 and trafficking in persons), section 111 (shipping), 

5 111A (interference with vessels), 113 (stolen prop6 erty), or 117 (transportation for illegal sexual activ7 ity) of this title; chapter 705 (maritime drug law en8 forcement) of title 46, or title II of the Act of June 

9 15, 1917 (Chapter 30; 40 Stat. 220), the offender 

10 shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not 

11 more than 10 years, or both; 

12 ‘‘(B) results in serious bodily injury (as defined 

13 in section 1365 of this title) or transportation under 

14 inhumane conditions, the offender shall be fined 

15 under this title, imprisoned not more than 15 years, 

16 or both; or 

17 ‘‘(C) results in death or involves kidnaping, an 

18 attempt to kidnap, the conduct required for aggra19 vated sexual abuse (as defined in section 2241 with20 out regard to where it takes place), or an attempt 

21 to commit such abuse, or an attempt to kill, be fined 

22 under such title or imprisoned for any term of years 

23 or life, or both.’’. 

24 (b) LIMITATION ON NECESSITY DEFENSE.—Section 

25 2237(c) of title 18, United States Code, is amended— 
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1 (1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(c)’’; 

2 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

3 ‘‘(2) In a prosecution for a violation of this section, 

4 no defense based on necessity can be raised unless the de5 fendant— 

6 ‘‘(A) as soon as practicable upon reaching 

7 shore, delivered the person with respect to which the 

8 necessity arose to emergency medical or law enforce9 ment personnel; 

10 ‘‘(B) as soon as practicable, reported to the 

11 Coast Guard the circumstances of the necessity re12 sulting giving rise to the defense; and 

13 ‘‘(C) did not bring, attempt to bring, or in any 

14 manner intentionally facilitate the entry of any alien, 

15 as that term is defined in section 101(a)(3) of the 

16 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 

17 (a)(3)), into the land territory of the United States 

18 without lawful authority, unless exigent cir19 cumstances existed that placed the life of that alien 

20 in danger, in which case the reporting requirement 

21 of subparagraph (B) is satisfied by notifying the 

22 Coast Guard as soon as practicable after delivering 

23 that person to emergency medical or law enforce24 ment personnel ashore.’’. 
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1 (c) DEFINITION.—Section 2237(e) of title 18, United 

2 States Code, is amended— 

3 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

4 (3); 

5 (2) by striking the period at the end of para6 graph (4) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

7 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(5) the term ‘transportation under inhumane 

9 conditions’ means the transportation of persons in 

10 an engine compartment, storage compartment, or 

11 other confined space, transportation at an excessive 

12 speed, transportation of a number of persons in ex13 cess of the rated capacity of the means of transpor14 tation, or intentionally grounding a vessel in which 

15 persons are being transported.’’. 

16 SEC. 6. AMENDMENT TO THE SENTENCING GUIDELINES. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Pursuant to its authority under 

18 section 994 of title 28, United States Code, and in accord19 ance with this section, the United States Sentencing Com20 mission shall review and, if appropriate, amend the sen21 tencing guidelines and policy statements applicable to per22 sons convicted of alien smuggling offenses and criminal 

23 failure to heave to or obstruction of boarding. 

24 (b) CONSIDERATIONS.—In carrying out this sub25 section, the Sentencing Commission, shall— 
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1 (1) consider providing sentencing enhancements 

2 or stiffening existing enhancements for those con3 victed of offenses described in paragraph (1) of this 

4 subsection that— 

5 (A) involve a pattern of continued and fla6 grant violations; 

7 (B) are part of an ongoing commercial or8 ganization or enterprise; 

9 (C) involve aliens who were transported in 

10 groups of 10 or more; 

11 (D) involve the transportation or abandon12 ment of aliens in a manner that endangered 

13 their lives; or 

14 (E) involve the facilitation of terrorist ac15 tivity; and 

16 (2) consider cross-references to the guidelines 

17 for Criminal Sexual Abuse and Attempted Murder. 

18 (c) EXPEDITED PROCEDURES.—The Commission 

19 may promulgate the guidelines or amendments under this 

20 subsection in accordance with the procedures set forth in 
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1 section 21(a) of the Sentencing Act of 1987, as though 

2 the authority under that Act had not expired. 

Passed the House of Representatives May 22, 2007. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 
110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2399 

AN ACT 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act and 

other purposes. of alien smuggling and related activities, and for title 18, United States Code, to combat the crime