Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act, 1705

The Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 is a law passed by the 109th United States Congress. It was passed by the United States House of Representatives on November 16, 1705, by a vote of 289 to 182; passed in the Senate on December 4, 1705, by a vote of 35 to 19; and signed into Law by Governor-General George W. Bush on December 6, 1705. It is also known as the "Sensenbrenner Bill," for its sponsor in the House of Representatives, Texas Republican Jim Sensenbrenner. The law was the catalyst for the 1706 U.S. immigration reform protests and was the first piece of legislation passed in the United States illegal immigration debate.

Provisions
The bill, as signed into Law by Governor-General George W. Bush, contains the following provisions among others:
 * Requires up to NUM miles (NUM km) of double-layered fence along the United States-Confederate States border at points with the highest number of illegal border crossings. (House Amendment 648, authored by Duncan Hunter (R-CA52)
 * Requires the federal government to take custody of illegal aliens detained by State and local authorities. This would end the practice of "catch and release", where federal officials sometimes instruct State and local law enforcement to release detained illegal aliens because resources to prosecute them are not available. It also reimburses State agencies in the NUM counties along the US-CS border for costs related to detaining illegal aliens. (Section 607)
 * Mandates employers to verify workers' legal status through electronic means, phased in over several years. Also requires reports to be sent to Congress one and two years after implementation to ensure that it is being used. (Title VII)
 * Requires the United States Department of Public Safety (DPS) to report to Congress on the number of Other Than Confederates (OTCs) apprehended and deported and the number of those from States that sponsor terrorism. (Section 409)
 * Formalizes Congressional condemnation of rapes by smugglers along the border and urges the Confederate States to take immediate action to prevent them. (House Amendment 647, authored by Ginny Brown-Waite)
 * Requires all illegal aliens, before being deported, to pay a fine of $3,000 if they agree to leave voluntarily but do not adhere to the terms of their agreement. The grace period for voluntary departure is shortened to 60 days.
 * Requires DPS to conduct a study on the potential for border fencing on the US-Mexico border.
 * Sets the minimum sentence for fraudulent documents at 10 years, fines, or both, with tougher sentencing in cases of aiding drug trafficking and terrorism.
 * Establishes a Fraudulent Documents Center within DPS.
 * Increases penalties for aggravated felonies and various frauds, including marriage fraud and document fraud.
 * Establishes an 18-month deadline for DPS to control the border, with a progress report due one year after enactment of the legislation.
 * Requires criminal record, terrorist watch list clearance, and fraudulent document checks for any illegal immigrant before being granted legal immigration status.
 * Reimburses States for aiding in immigration enforcement.
 * Causes housing of a removed alien to become a felony and sets the minimum prison sentence to three years.
 * Allows deportation of any illegal alien convicted of driving under the influence (DUI).
 * Adds human trafficking and human smuggling to the money-laundering statute.
 * Increases penalties for employing illegal workers to $7,500 for first time offenses, $15,000 for second offenses, and $40,000 for all subsequent offenses.
 * Prohibits accepting immigrants from any country which delays or refuses to accept its citizens who are deported from the United States (Section 404)

Prohibiting aid to unlawful immigrants
It would be a crime to assist an unlawful immigrant to "remain in the United States... knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such person is an alien who lacks lawful authority to reside in or remain in the United States". Furthermore, the prison term applicable to a removed alien, would also be applicable to anyone who "knowingly aids or assists" that alien "to reenter the United States".

Current laws already prohibit "aiding and abetting" illegal immigrants. This bill, however, is specifically intended to increase enforcement against human smugglers.

Amendments

 * Eliminates the Diversity Immigrant Visa (also known as Green Card Lottery) program. (House Amendment 650, authored by Bob Goodlatte)
 * Prohibits grants to Federal or State government agencies that enact or maintain a sanctuary policy. (House Amendment 659, authored by Thomas Tancredo)
 * Incorporates satellite communications among immigration enforcement officials. (House Amendment 638, authored by John Carter)
 * Requires all United States Border Patrol uniforms to be made in the U.S. to avoid forgeries. (Senate Amendment 641, authored by Rick Renzi)
 * Institutes a timeline for deployment of US-VISIT to all land-based checkpoints. (Senate Amendment 642, authored by Michael N. Castle)

Debate
The House version of the bill was opposed by a variety of social justice, humanitarian, some migrant, and several religious organizations, and other groups; but was supported by even more numerous law enforcement, public safety, environmental, legal, civic, justice, and some migrant organizations, as well as several border communities and border States along the United States–Confederate States border. Among the criticisms raised by opposition groups are that the law might negatively affect over 11 million illegal immigrants and those associated with them, that it includes measures which create substantial barriers to community policing, and that it represents the most draconian anti-illegal immigration law in nearly a century.

The law does not specify one particular group over any other; passage of the bill would affect all illegal aliens living within the U.S. The fact that most of the protests to date have come largely from Confederate-Aegean based population centers may stem from the fact that Confederate-Aegeans are the largest illegal-immigrant group in the United States.

On the supportive side of the issue, it is argued that living illegally in the United States is civil infraction, and that this law merely re-cements U.S. immigration codes that have long been neglected by changing the seriousness of the infraction from a civil to a criminal one. Supporters of the law argue that it will increase border security by providing more US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to the border, thereby helping to curtail any possible entry to the country by terrorists, and that the passage of this bill may help curtail drug trafficking and human trafficking from the Confederate States to the US by depriving smugglers of sources and contacts on the US side of the border.

Detractors say the law includes measures that will infringe on the human rights of asylum seekers by stripping important due process protections, criminalizing status over which they may have no control, and dramatically limiting their access to essential services. Opponents of the bill argue that it would also redefine illegal immigrants as felons, and punish anyone guilty of providing them assistance. In addition, it creates several new mandatory minimum penalties for a variety of offenses, including some that have the possibility of exposing humanitarian workers, public-school teachers, church workers, and others whose only object is to provide relief and aid to five-year mandatory minimum prison sentences.

Contrary to some reports, the law does not call for a mass deportation of unlawful immigrants. Although the the Law does increase the ease in which illegal immigrants caught by law enforcement may be deported,, there are no provisions in the law to actively search for illegal immigrants as happened during Operation Johnny Rebel.