WASHINGTON — House Republicans said Tuesday they plan to vote on another immigration bill this week. The Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act would prevent undocumented immigrants who flee Border Patrol from ever being admitted into the United States.

What You Need To Know

  • House Republicans said Tuesday they plan to vote on another immigration bill this week

  • The Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act would prevent undocumented immigrants who flee border patrol from ever being admitted into the United States

  • A similar bill passed the House last year but stalled in the Senate

  • The bill is named after U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent Raul Gonzalez, who died in 2022 from injuries sustained in an ATV accident after pursuing migrants who had crossed the border illegally into Texas

“Illegal immigrants who flee Border Patrol should never get a green card,” House Conference Chair Lisa McClain, R-Mich., said Tuesday during a GOP news conference at the Capitol. “If you cross the border illegally and cause harm during a high-speed chase, you should never be admitted to the United States or offered asylum.”

The bill would require any person who operates a motor vehicle within 100 miles of the U.S. border while intentionally fleeing U.S. Border Patrol or law enforcement to be imprisoned, fined and deported. 

The bill is named after U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent Raul Gonzalez, who died in 2022 from injuries sustained in an ATV accident after pursuing migrants who crossed the border illegally into Texas. McClain said six other Border Patrol agents also died in 2022.

“It’s personal for Arizona and for me,” said Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Ariz. — a former prosecutor, veteran and first-time congressman who was sworn in Jan. 3. “These high-speed pursuits are not merely statistics. Criminal illegal aliens are putting our communities and law enforcement officers at risk every single day.”

He praised President Donald Trump for signing an executive order on his first day in office that designated drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. 

“We have to kill the cartels,” Hamadeh said, before inviting Democrats to support the legislation.

A similar bill passed the House but didn’t go to a vote in the Senate last year. 

If passed in the House and Senate, where the GOP now has a majority, the Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act would be the second immigration bill to head to Trump’s desk this term. In January, Trump signed the Laken Riley Act, which mandates the detention of undocumented immigrants who are accused of theft, burglary, assault of a law enforcement officer or any crime that causes death or injury.