Congress 2006 Bill Text and Bill Summaries

End of 2006 Session Enforcement Only Bills:

(Summaries from the National Immigration Forum)

Secure Fence Act

H.R. 6061, introduced in the House by Peter King (R-NY) on September 13, 2006.

This bill calls for 700 miles of fence on the U.S./Mexico border and requires DHS to achieve “operational control” of the rest of the U.S./Mexico border through a “virtual fence.”
Immigration Law Enforcement Act
H.R. 6095, introduced in the House by James Sensenbrenner (R-WI).

This bill would give state and local police the authority to enforce civil immigration laws. It would also shield the government from accountability for the misdeeds or misapplication of the law by government agents, making it practically impossible for an immigrant who is a victim of government misdeeds to gain a remedy from a judge. In the application of immigration law, it basically gives DHS unchecked power.

Community Protection Act
H.R. 6094, introduced in the House by James Sensenbrenner (R-WI)

This bill would reverse two Supreme Court decisions that held that the government cannot on its own outside of any judicial process impose what is effectively a life sentence in cases where an individual’s home country will not accept him back and when there is no realistic prospect that the government will be able to deport the immigrant. The bill would also expand expedited removal to certain non-citizens anywhere in the U.S. who have committed crimes—allowing the government to avoid a judicial determination of a person’s eligibility to stay. Another provision of this bill gives the Attorney General the ability to designate any group as a “gang,” and then punish an individual for belonging to that group—regardless of whether the individual committed a crime. It gives the government the ability to declare someone guilty by their association with a group the government says is a gang, not merely their actual criminal conduct.