Sen. Jim Banks Introduces Bill to Criminalize Overstaying a Visa, Including Jail Time for Offenders
Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) is introducing legislation to criminalize overstaying a visa in the wake of the Boulder, Colorado, terrorist attack where an Egyptian illegal alien, who overstayed his visa, is charged with trying to murder supporters of Israel.
On Tuesday, Banks introduced the “Visa Overstay Penalties Act” to have the federal government finally crack down on hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens who overstay their visas every year.
“The Boulder terrorist and 9/11 hijackers didn’t sneak in, they overstayed visas,” Banks said in a statement. “That’s just as serious and just as dangerous. My bill cracks down on visa overstays with criminal penalties to stop threats before they happen.”
Banks’s legislation would classify overstaying a visa as a criminal offense, akin to crossing United States borders illegally, and impose up to six months of jail time for first-time offenders and two years of jail time for repeat offenders.
In addition, under the bill, those who overstay their visas would have to pay civil fines as high as $1,000, which would double for repeat offenders. Banks said the bill would treat visa overstays as a national security threat.
Annually, anywhere from 550,000 to nearly 800,000 foreign nationals overstay their visas, making them illegal aliens in the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has long estimated that about half of the nation’s 11 to 22 million illegal alien population is from overstaying visas.
Last weekend, 45-year-old illegal alien Mohamed Sabry Soliman of Egypt allegedly used a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to burn several Americans in Boulder who had gathered to support Israel and demand Hamas release hostages.
Soliman arrived in the U.S. via LAX in Los Angeles, California, on a tourist visa in August 2022. The visa expired in February 2023, but Soliman never departed the U.S. as required by federal law, making him an illegal alien.
Even after his visa had expired, former President Joe Biden’s administration approved a work permit for him to hold an American job in March 2023. That work permit expired in March of this year.
Soliman sought to enter the U.S. 20 years ago but was denied a visa.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter here.
