Exclusive—Rep. Brad Knott: I Fought Committed Illegal Immigrant Criminals, Here’s How to Stop Them

During almost a decade of successfully investigating and prosecuting illegal alien criminals, I found a troubling thread linking each case: A uniform lack of respect for American immigration laws among illegal aliens.

They illegally enter our country at will and repeatedly. I prosecuted criminals who had been deported more than ten—yes, ten—times. When I spoke to these individuals, they were often candid in stating how deportation alone was no deterrent.

Often, criminals return to the United States within a month of deportation to resume criminal activities. The only aspect of American law that strikes fear in the illegal alien is not deportation, state prosecution, or even federal immigration charges. Only when an illegal alien faces serious federal crime charges that will result in mandatory prison time is his invincibility dissolved.

We need more than a wall and deportations. To fix this gap in the law, I am filing a bill that will deter illegal aliens from committing crimes while here – and deter illegal aliens from illegally re-entering the U.S. to continue criminal activity.

Unfortunately, this legislation is necessary given the failures of our government to stop dangerous people from coming to the U.S. Granted, my exposure to illegal immigration is unique. I worked with all levels of law enforcement to target a class of illegal alien who commit extensive crimes all over the U.S. From that experience, here are two observations.

First, illegal immigration exacerbates all serious crime in the United States. Illegal immigration worsens human trafficking, drug trafficking, violent crime, property crime, fraud, organized retail theft, and crimes against children. Because of open borders and perverse incentives, this is an ongoing crisis. In today’s world, serving a local search warrant becomes a department-wide exercise rather than the “knock and talk” of yesterday. What used to involve maybe a Glock, a dime bag of crack, and a local criminal already known to police now involves multiple AK-47s, a kilogram of fentanyl, a suitcase of cash, and a dozen record-less men who no one knows.

Second, there is an international category of people who continually come to the U.S. to hurt you, American citizens. The degree to which these international criminals utilize deception, corruption, violence, and creativity to further their crimes is beyond most Americans’ imagination.

Many of the criminal aliens I prosecuted kept photographs memorializing dismembered bodies, grotesque torture, truckloads of drugs, and graphic sexual abuse on their cellphones.

Decades of weak immigration enforcement have enabled these people and organizations to perfect their criminal endeavors here while avoiding detection. Many of these criminals come here on a repeated basis, even after deportation, largely due to lax enforcement and minimal consequences for flouting the law.

We saw this when a Wisconsin state judge faced charges for helping an illegal alien, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, elude arrest last month. Following due process, Flores-Ruiz was deported in 2013 but returned to the U.S. where authorities arrested him for multiple violent crimes. His two victims, who were in court that day to support the prosecution’s case, would not have been battered and injured if that alien had been deterred from re-entering the United States.

Clearly, existing punishments for re-entry are insufficient deterrents for men like Flores-Ruiz. That’s why I am introducing the “Punishing Illegal Immigrant Felons Act,” to provide severe and impactful disincentives for criminal illegal aliens. Its provisions are simple:

1. If any illegal alien is found guilty of a State or Federal crime, that alone makes the illegal alien eligible for a separate federal crime that carries a minimum of five years in federal prison.
2. Rather than capping the sentence for illegally re-entering the country at 2 years, the maximum would become 10 years for all illegal aliens regardless of criminal history.
3. If an illegal alien is convicted of any felony, deported, and then illegally re-enters the country, he or she is eligible for a federal charge that carries a minimum of ten years in federal prison and a maximum of life behind bars.

The premise of this legislation begins with the reality that anyone who is in the U.S. illegally is guilty of criminal conduct. Once an individual is deported, illegally returning must be too costly to consider.

Currently, our laws do not deter illegal re-entry, and our country is suffering because of it. Millions of Americans are either dead or crippled with addiction. Hospitals are facing bankruptcy due to unpaid costs from treating illegal aliens. Schools are unable to adequately educate Americans and legal immigrants due to the millions of illegal aliens who come, stay, and return. We must earnestly address the problem of illegal immigration. The wall, expedited deportations, and this new bill will go a long way towards protecting our country from the preventable harms caused by the crimes committed by illegal aliens.

Brad Knott represents North Carolina’s 13th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.