State Border Security Act
H.R. 7330118th Congress

State Border Security Act

Introduced in the HouseRep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL-1)13 sections · 1 min read
Version: Introduced in House · Feb 13, 2024

Section 1. Short title

This Act may be cited as the State Border Security Act.

Section 2. Removal of protective fencing

Section 2 of the Secure Fence Act of 2006 (Public Law 109–367; 8 U.S.C. 1701 note) is amended—

(1) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as subsections (c) and (d), respectively;

(2) by inserting after subsection (a) the following new subsection:; and

(1) In general

Subject to paragraph (2) and notwithstanding any other provision of law, no employee or agent of the Federal Government may execute or enforce any provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act by dismantling, removing, destroying, or tampering with concertina wire, razor wire, barbed wire, or other protective fencing erected by a State government within 25 miles of the international border between the United States and Mexico.

(2) Exception

The prohibition described in paragraph (1) shall not apply in situations with respect to which the Federal Government demonstrates, by clear and convincing evidence, that the fencing referred to in such paragraph was erected by a State government with the intention of facilitating unlawful immigration rather than deterring unlawful immigration.

(3) Injunctive relief

The Attorney General may seek injunctive relief in an appropriate Federal district court to order any State that has erected protective fencing intended to facilitate unlawful immigration to remove such fencing by meeting the evidentiary standard described in paragraph (2).

(3) in subsection (c), as so redesignated—

(A) by striking the heading and inserting Definitions;

(B) by striking In this section, the term operational control means and inserting the following: In this section:; and

(1) Operational control

The term operational control means

(C) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

(2) Protective fencing

The term protective fencing means fencing that is reasonably calculated to deter unlawful border crossings by aliens outside a port of entry.

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