Speech #1100003089

Despite evidence that these crimes are widespread and that millions of travel documents are on the black market. in 2004. the State Departments Diplomatic Security Service reports that it made about 500 arrests for passport fraud. with only 300 convictions. For these reasons. Senator SESSIONS and I are introducing a bill today to strengthen current passport and visa laws in a number of key ways. First. this bill adds two new laws with strong penalties to punish those who traffic in fraudulent travel documents. The current law makes no distinction between those caught with multiple false travel documentsthe very worst offenders who are often part of organized crime ringsand those with only one false document. Our bill would change that. The bill also updates the current travel document fraud lawsusing plain language advocated for by the practitioners that passed the Senate as part of the comprehensive immigration reform bill. Thirdly. the bill adds provisions to the current passport and visa fraud laws to ensure that conspiracies and attempts to commit these crimes are investigated and prosecuted just as vigorously as the completed crime. Fourththe bill makes explicit that there is extraterritorial jurisdiction over these offenses. so that individuals who counterfeit travel documents while abroad but are caught trying to enter the United States are still subject to prosecution. The bill also directs the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Commissions to reconsider the relatively low sentencing guidelines to reflect the potential seriousness of these crimes. Currently. offenders who engage in passport or visa fraud generally serve less than a year imprisonment. providing little incentive for U.S. Attorneys Offices to expend scarce resources in prosecuting these crimes. Finally. the bill creates a law to punish sham attorneys who cheat immigrants out of thousands of dollars by preying on their fears that they could be forced to leave the country. We know that when Congress discusses changing the immigration law. scam artists target and exploit these vulnerable populations. These crimes should not go unpunished. This bill provides much needed reform.