Sen.
Marco Rubio
(R-FL) will introduce an amendment cracking down on “coyotes” smuggling
immigrants
and goods over the
border
and into the United States.
The bill, known as the “No Coyote Cash Act,” will fine coyotes, those who smuggle people or goods across the southern border, the worth of their transportation at the border and sentence them to up to one year in prison,
per
Fox News.
“Any person who transmits money, property, or any item of value through interstate commerce … shall be fined the value of the transmitted money, property, or item of value, imprisoned not more than year, or both,” the bill states.
Any goods or people that coyotes smuggled could be subjected to deportation under the bill, as well. Coyotes charge up to $10,000 to smuggle in immigrants, with the value varying depending on a migrant’s country of origin and method of transportation.
“President Biden’s failed open border policy continues to incentivize the crisis at our border,” Rubio told Fox News. “This commonsense bill targets one of the root causes of illegal migration. We must ensure those who pay cartels, smugglers, and coyotes are convicted for enriching criminals’ pockets through human smuggling.”
The bill is co-signed by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Mike Braun (R-IN), and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and would be amended to the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The bill comes as
border encounters
for fiscal 2022 neared 2,400,000, with 717,660 border encounters already recorded since October for fiscal 2023.
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During President Joe Biden’s state of the union address, he
called on Congress
to either pass bipartisan immigration laws or at least vote to send additional equipment and officers to the southern border. His comments on the high influx of fentanyl and human smuggling received loud jeers from several GOP lawmakers.
The House Oversight Committee is holding hearings relating to the border crisis, with the latest featuring testimony from border patrol agents and law enforcement officers on their experiences at the border.
