Actually, it is, I believe, only a felony when an illegal enters a second time after being deported. When Sensenbrenner introduced the bill making it a felony on the first entry offense, every illegal alien here could have been deemed a felon.....that’s when the OBL and pro-illegal groups went nuts...that’s what stirred their massive protests. Subsequently, it has, in addition, become common practice by the OBL and this Administration to intentionally distinguish between (common) illegal aliens and criminal illegal aliens.
Yet...seems that in order to avoid prosecuting and deporting illegal aliens, folks continue to play games with the language, refusing to distinguish. They all say they oppose amnesty, but won’t define it. The ONLY Republican candidates who made their positions absolutely clear were Hunter and Tancredo.
Sensenbrenner was asked to put that language into the bill at the behest of the WH. When the WH backed away from the bill, Sensenbrenner tried to have the language removed, but the Dems and some Reps wanted it kept in as a poison pill to kill the legislation.
Under Title 8 Section 1325 of the U.S. Code, "Improper Entry by Alien," any citizen of any country other than the United States who:
has committed a federal crime.
Violations are punishable by criminal fines and imprisonment for up to six months. Repeat offenses can bring up to two years in prison. Additional civil fines may be imposed at the discretion of immigration judges, but civil fines do not negate the criminal sanctions or nature of the offense.
It is a felony on first offense. Subsequent violations result in increased penalties....Administration to intentionally distinguish between (common) illegal aliens and criminal illegal aliens.
The distinction between "illegal aliens" and "criminal illegal aliens" is that the latter goes on to commit additional crimes such as murder, rape, etc,. etc,.
ElayneJ:Election laws are broken?
The laws aren't broken...it's the politicians and law enforcement that is broken. If they would simply enforce the laws on the books,we wouldn't have the problems we have. Happy Thanksgiving to you both.