NCJ Number
158542
Date Published
1978
Length
55 pages
Annotation
This report presents the transcript of a hearing on U.S. Senate bill S. 3093, which would authorize the seizure of vehicles used to illegally transport persons into the United States.
Abstract
The bill would authorize the designee of the Attorney General to seize vessels, vehicles, and aircraft used to transport aliens into the United States illegally and would make those vehicles subject to forfeiture. Any vehicle that qualified could be seized without warrant if the seizure is incident to an arrest or if there is probable cause to believe that the conveyance has been used in violation of the statute that prohibits the bringing in and harboring of undocumented aliens. Existing procedures for exercising seizure and forfeiture and for remission or mitigation of losses by innocent parties are incorporated into the bill. The sponsor of the bill, Senator Huddleston of Kentucky, explains that the bill is needed because smuggling rings on the southern U.S. border are able to use the same vehicles repeatedly to bring persons into the United States with no fear of loss should the vehicle be intercepted. The Commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service supports the bill as a needed addition to tools that can counter the increasing problem of illegal immigration. Other supporters of the bill are Michael Hawkins, U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona; the assistant to the chairman of the Environmental Coalition for North America, who favors the bill as a means of countering overpopulation that infringes on environmental protection; and representatives of labor, who want more effective enforcement of immigration laws to diminish the impact of illegal immigration on the labor market.