Two important lawmakers in the Republican Party are drafting a bill to establish mandatory five-year prison sentences for undocumented immigrants who re-enter the US after deportation, to force the parents of undocumented immigrant teenagers to have electronic ankle monitors fitted ensuring their offspring attend deportation hearings, and to punish so-called ‘sanctuary cities’. This is according to a Congressional aide and The Washington Post, which obtained an early draft of the new legislation.
Representative, Michael McCaul, and Senator John Cornyn are behind the bill, which, on Tuesday, was still being worked on. The bill would also increase the number of immigration judges working on the border to speed up deportations and boost the available detention space.
The bill also calls for an increase in criminal prosecutions of undocumented immigrant border crossers, as well as for reimbursement for Governors using the National Guard to patrol the border. This claim is from a Congressional aide with direct access to the bill. The bill remains in its preliminary stages and the aide only gave the information in return for a guarantee of anonymity.
The bill, which the Department of Homeland Security is currently attempting to refine, intends to boost immigration enforcement and border security inside the US. But, anti-immigration critics say that the bill, which seems unlikely to pass the Senate, does not go far enough, by failing to include sanctions against employers who hire undocumented immigrants or paying for the border wall.