II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 374 

To prohibit the intentional hindering of immigration, border, and customs 

controls, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 9, 2023 

Ms. ERNST (for herself and Mr. LANKFORD) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To prohibit the intentional hindering of immigration, border, 

and customs controls, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Transnational Crimi5 nal Organization Illicit Spotter Prevention and Elimi6 nation Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. UNLAWFULLY HINDERING IMMIGRATION, BORDER, 

8 AND CUSTOMS CONTROLS. 

9 (a) ENHANCED PENALTIES.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 9 of title II of the 

2 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1351 et 

3 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘SEC. 295. UNLAWFULLY HINDERING IMMIGRATION, BOR5 DER, AND CUSTOMS CONTROLS. 

6 ‘‘(a) ILLICIT SPOTTING.—Any person who knowingly 

7 transmits, by any means, to another person the location, 

8 movement, or activities of any Federal, State, local, or 

9 tribal law enforcement agency with the intent to further 

10 a Federal crime relating to United States immigration, 

11 customs, controlled substances, agriculture, monetary in12 struments, or other border controls shall be fined under 

13 title 18, United States Code, imprisoned not more than 

14 10 years, or both. 

15 ‘‘(b) DESTRUCTION OF UNITED STATES BORDER

16 CONTROLS.—Any person who knowingly and without law17 ful authorization destroys, alters, or damages any fence, 

18 barrier, sensor, camera, or other physical or electronic de19 vice deployed by the Federal Government to control the 

20 border or a port of entry or otherwise seeks to construct, 

21 excavate, or make any structure intended to defeat, cir22 cumvent, or evade any such fence, barrier, sensor camera, 

23 or other physical or electronic device deployed by the Fed24 eral Government to control the border or a port of entry— 


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1 ‘‘(1) shall be fined under title 18, United States 

2 Code, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both; 

3 or 

4 ‘‘(2) if, at the time of the offense, the person 

5 uses or carries a firearm or who, in furtherance of 

6 any such crime, possesses a firearm, shall be fined 

7 under such title 18, imprisoned not more than 20 

8 years, or both. 

9 ‘‘(c) CONSPIRACY AND ATTEMPT.—Any person who 

10 attempts or conspires to violate subsection (a) or (b) shall 

11 be punished in the same manner as a person who com12 pletes a violation of such subsection.’’. 

13 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con14 tents in the first section of the Immigration and Na15 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.) is amended by 

16 inserting after the item relating to section 294 the 

17 following: 

‘‘Sec. 295. Unlawfully hindering immigration, border, and customs controls.’’. 

18 (b) PROHIBITING CARRYING OR USE OF A FIREARM

19 DURING AND IN RELATION TO AN ALIEN SMUGGLING

20 CRIME.—Section 924(c) of title 18, United States Code, 

21 is amended— 

22 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

23 (A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘, 

24 alien smuggling crime,’’ after ‘‘crime of vio25 lence’’ each place that term appears; and 


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1 (B) in subparagraph (D)(ii), by inserting 

2 ‘‘, alien smuggling crime,’’ after ‘‘crime of vio3 lence’’; 

4 (2) by striking paragraphs (2) through (4); 

5 (3) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para6 graph (2); and 

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

8 ‘‘(3) In this subsection— 

9 ‘‘(A) the term ‘alien smuggling crime’ means 

10 any felony punishable under section 274(a), 277, or 

11 278 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

12 U.S.C. 1324(a), 1327, and 1328); 

13 ‘‘(B) the term ‘brandish’ means, with respect to 

14 a firearm, to display all or part of the firearm, or 

15 otherwise make the presence of the firearm known 

16 to another person, in order to intimidate that per17 son, regardless of whether the firearm is directly 

18 visible to such person; 

19 ‘‘(C) the term ‘crime of violence’ means an of20 fense that— 

21 ‘‘(i) is a felony; and 

22 ‘‘(ii)(I) has, as an element, the use, at23 tempted use, or threatened use of physical force 

24 against the person or property of another; or 


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1 ‘‘(II) by its nature, involves a substantial 

2 risk that physical force against the person or 

3 property of another may be used in the course 

4 of committing the offense. 

5 ‘‘(D) the term ‘drug trafficking crime’ means 

6 any felony punishable under the Controlled Sub7 stances Act (21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.), the Controlled 

8 Substances Import and Export Act (21 U.S.C. 951 

9 et seq.), or chapter 705 of title 46.’’. 

10 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

11 (1) BANKRUPTCY CODE.—Section 707(c)(1)(B) 

12 of title 11, United States Code, is amended by strik13 ing ‘‘section 924(c)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 

14 924(c)(3)(D)’’. 

15 (2) CRIMINAL CODE.—Title 18, United States 

16 Code, is amended— 

17 (A) in section 844(o)— 

18 (i) by striking ‘‘section 924(c)(3)’’ 

19 and inserting ‘‘section 924(c)(3)(C)’’; and 

20 (ii) by striking ‘‘section 924(c)(2)’’ 

21 and inserting ‘‘section 924(c)(3)(D)’’; 

22 (B) in section 1028(b)(3)(B), by striking 

23 ‘‘section 924(c)(3)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 

24 924(c)(3)(C)’’; and 

25 (C) in section 4042(b)(3)— 


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1 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

2 ‘‘section 924(c)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 

3 924(c)(3)(D)’’; and 

4 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

5 ‘‘section 924(c)(3)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 

6 924(c)(3)(C)’’. 

7 (3) PRISONS.—Section 3(1) of the Interstate 

8 Transportation of Dangerous Criminals Act of 2000 

9 (34 U.S.C. 60102(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘sec10 tion 924(c)(3)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 

11 924(c)(3)(C)’’. 

12 (d) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—Section 3298 of title 

13 18, United States Code, is amended— 

14 (1) by inserting ‘‘or 295’’ after ‘‘274(a)’’; and 

15 (2) by inserting ‘‘(8 U.S.C. 1324(a) and 

16 1363b)’’ after ‘‘Immigration and Nationality Act’’. 

Æ 


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