This is part 2 in a continuing series exploring U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s stances on illegal immigration. Read part 1 here (Baldwin demanded the release of transgender illegal immigrants into communities).
U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, voted against a bill that would have created tougher criminal penalties for terrorists and aggravated felon illegal immigrants who are repeatedly deported but cross the border illegally again.
It was called “Kate’s Law.”
As the country faces a crisis at its border, we have decided to educate voters on Baldwin’s illegal immigration record. Conservative businessman Eric Hovde is running against her.
For years, she has been voting against efforts to get tough on illegal immigration and border security.
Kate’s law is an example of this. Baldwin voted AGAINST the get-tough-on-illegal-immigration law named after Kate Steinle, the California woman who was shot to death while walking along a pier with her family. An illegal immigrant who had been deported five times was accused in her death. He claimed it was an accident, which led to his eventual acquittal on the murder charge but a conviction on a firearm offense stood.
Fast forward to 2024, and another young woman, Laken Riley, a Georgia college student, is in the news because an illegal immigrant from Venezuela is accused of her murder.
Supporters of measures like Kate’s Law say that, if the tougher immigration measures had passed years ago, the current border crisis wouldn’t exist at this magnitude.
The bill was put forth by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in 2015. It was known as “Stop Illegal Reentry Act or Kate’s Law.”
It was a “bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to increase penalties for individuals who illegally reenter the United States after being removed and for other purposes,” according to Congressional records.
Baldwin voted no.
“This bill amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to increase from two years to five years the maximum prison term for an alien who reenters after being denied admission, excluded, deported, or removed,” Congressional records saw.
According to the federal criminal law center, “In July 2016, a Senate version of Kate’s Law was passed, filibustered, but no supermajority existed to defeat the filibuster. ”
Thus, Kate’s Law never passed, due to the efforts of Baldwin and her Democratic colleagues.
In addition, Kate’s Law provided a “10-year sentence for terrorists who have been deported and later returned to the United States. This 10-year period is added onto any other amount of time to which the person is sentenced,” the federal criminal law center says.
What else did the law do? According to the federal criminal law center:
- “There is a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison for individuals who have been convicted of illegal reentry twice before. Additionally, individuals who are convicted three times will likely receive an even higher sentence.
- Kate’s Law provides a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for individuals who illegally reenter the United States after having been convicted of an aggravated felony. An aggravated felony includes many different types of illegal activity.”
In 2023, Cruz reintroduced the law.
“The legislation is named in memory of Kate Steinle, a 32-year-old woman tragically shot and killed by an illegal alien who had several felony convictions and had been deported from the United States five times. This bill would amend federal law to impose a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for any person who has multiple convictions, or a conviction for an aggravated felony, who enters the country illegally,” he said.
