S. 512 — Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act

This section establishes a new federal criminal offense (18 U.S.C. § 40B) for operating a motor vehicle within 100 miles of the U.S. border while intentionally fleeing from a pursuing U.S. Border Patrol agent acting pursuant to lawful authority or from any pursuing federal, state, or local law enforcement officer assisting or under Border Patrol command. Penalties include (1) imprisonment for up to 2 years, a fine, or both, for a basic offense; (2) imprisonment for 5 to 20 years, a fine, or both, if serious bodily injury results; and (3) imprisonment for 10 years to life, a fine, or both, if death results.

This section (1) adds evading arrest or detention while operating a motor vehicle (i.e., a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 40B(a)) as a new ground of inadmissibility under INA § 212(a)(2)(J); (2) adds it as a new ground of deportability under INA § 237(a)(2)(G); and (3) renders aliens convicted of, admitting to, or admitting acts constituting such a violation ineligible for asylum or any other relief under the immigration laws (INA § 208(f)).

This section requires the Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, to submit an annual report to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees identifying the number of violations of 18 U.S.C. §40B(a) (as added by section 2(a)) and summarizing (1) the number of individuals charged, (2) the number apprehended but not charged, (3) the number of violators not apprehended, (4) penalties sought in charging documents, and (5) penalties imposed.