I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3137
To provide for enhanced Federal, State, and local assistance in the enforce-
ment of the immigration laws, to amend the Immigration and Nationality 
Act, to authorize appropriations to carry out the State Criminal Alien 
Assistance Program, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 30, 2005
Mr. NORWOOD (for himself, Mr. BOYD, Mr. HYDE, Mr. COBLE, Mr. SMITH 
of Texas, Mr. JENKINS, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. GALLEGLY, 
Mr. HOSTETTLER, Mr. ISSA, Mr. FORBES, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. 
FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. WESTMORELAND, Mr. GINGREY, Mr. PRICE of 
Georgia, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. DEAL of Georgia, Mr. LINDER, Mr. SUL-
LIVAN, Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr. ROYCE, Mr. 
BASS, Ms. HART, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, Mr. 
MCCAUL of Texas, Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California, Mr. CULBERSON, 
Mr. SIMPSON, Mrs. MUSGRAVE, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. OTTER, 
Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, Mrs. KELLY, Mr. 
PITTS, Mr. FORD, Mr. KELLER, Mr. WELDON of Florida, Mr. GRAVES, 
and Mr. GOODE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To provide for enhanced Federal, State, and local assistance 
in the enforcement of the immigration laws, to amend 
the Immigration and Nationality Act, to authorize appro-
priations to carry out the State Criminal Alien Assist-
ance Program, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS; STATE DE-
FINED; SEVERABILITY. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal Act 
of 2005’’ or ‘‘CLEAR Act of 2005’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents; State defined; severability. 
Sec. 2. Federal affirmation of assistance in the immigration law enforcement by 
States and political subdivisions of States. 
Sec. 3. State authorization for assistance in the enforcement of immigration 
laws encouraged. 
Sec. 4. Civil and criminal penalties for aliens unlawfully present in the United 
States. 
Sec. 5. Listing of immigration violators in the national crime information cen-
ter database. 
Sec. 6. State and local law enforcement provision of information about appre-
hended illegal aliens. 
Sec. 7. Financial assistance to State and local police agencies that assist in the 
enforcement of immigration laws. 
Sec. 8. Increased Federal detention space. 
Sec. 9. Federal custody of illegal aliens apprehended by State or local law en-
forcement. 
Sec. 10. Training of State and local law enforcement personnel relating to the 
enforcement of immigration laws. 
Sec. 11. Immunity. 
Sec. 12. Institutional removal program (IRP). 
Sec. 13. State criminal alien assistance program (SCAAP).
(c) STATE DEFINED.—For purposes of this Act, the 
term ‘‘State’’ has the meaning given such term in section 
101(a)(36) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1101(a)(36)). 
(d) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act, or 
the application of such provision to any person or cir-
cumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of this Act, and 
the application of such provision to other persons not simi-
larly situated or to other circumstances, shall not be af-
fected by such invalidation. 
SEC. 2. FEDERAL AFFIRMATION OF ASSISTANCE IN THE IM-
MIGRATION LAW ENFORCEMENT BY STATES 
AND POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS OF STATES. 
Notwithstanding any other provision of law and re-
affirming the existing inherent authority of States, law en-
forcement personnel of a State or a political subdivision 
of a State have the inherent authority of a sovereign entity 
to investigate, identify, apprehend, arrest, detain, or 
transfer to Federal custody aliens in the United States 
(including the transportation of such aliens across State 
lines to detention centers), for the purposes of assisting 
in the enforcement of the immigration laws of the United 
States in the course of carrying out routine duties. This 
State authority has never been displaced or preempted by 
the Congress. 
SEC. 3. STATE AUTHORIZATION FOR ASSISTANCE IN THE 
ENFORCEMENT OF IMMIGRATION LAWS EN-
COURAGED. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Effective 2 years after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, a State (or political subdivi-
sion of a State) that has in effect a statute, policy, or 
practice that prohibits law enforcement officers of the 
State, or of a political subdivision within the State, from
assisting or cooperating with Federal immigration law en-
forcement in the course of carrying out the officers’ rou-
tine law enforcement duties shall not receive any of the 
funds that would otherwise be allocated to the State under 
section 241(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1231(i)). 
(b) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section shall 
require law enforcement officials from States or political 
subdivisions of States to report or arrest victims or wit-
nesses of a criminal offense. 
(c) REALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—Any funds that are 
not allocated to a State or political subdivision of a State 
due to the failure of the State to comply with subsection 
(a) shall be reallocated to States that comply with such 
subsection. 
SEC. 4. CIVIL AND CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR ALIENS UN-
LAWFULLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES. 
(a) ALIENS UNLAWFULLY PRESENT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Immigration 
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151 et seq.) is 
amended by inserting after section 275 the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR UNLAWFUL PRESENCE IN 
THE UNITED STATES 
‘‘SEC. 275A. (a) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any 
other penalty, an alien who is present in the United States
in violation of this Act shall be guilty of a felony and shall 
be fined under title 18, United States Code, imprisoned 
not less than 1 year and a day, or both. 
‘‘(b) DEFENSE.—It shall be an affirmative defense 
to a violation of subsection (a) that the alien overstayed 
the time allotted under a visa due to an exceptional and 
extremely unusual hardship or physical illness that pre-
vented the alien from leaving the United States by the 
required date.’’. 
(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con-
tents of such Act is amended by inserting after the 
item relating to section 275 the following new item:
‘‘Sec. 275A. Criminal penalties for unlawful presence in the United States.’’.
(b) INCREASE IN CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR ILLEGAL 
ENTRY.—Section 275(a) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1325(a)) 
is amended by striking ‘‘6 months,’’ and inserting ‘‘1 
year,’’. 
(c) INCREASE IN CIVIL PENALTIES FOR VARIOUS 
VIOLATIONS OF THE IMMIGRATION LAWS OF THE UNITED 
STATES.—Section 275(b) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1325(b)) 
is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), any alien described 
in paragraph (3) shall be subject to a civil penalty of—
‘‘(A) $500 for the first violation;