House passes ‘Kate’s Law’ to boost penalties against deported criminal aliens who reenter the US

By Kelly Cohen

Published June 29, 2017 9:25pm ET

House passes ‘Kate’s Law’ to boost penalties against deported criminal aliens who reenter the US — File - In this Sept. 1, 2015 file photo, from left, Brad Steinle, Liz Sullivan and Jim Steinle, the brother, mother and father of Kate Steinle who was shot to death on a pier, listen to their attorneys speak during a news conference on the steps of City Hall in San Francisco. The parents of a woman killed on a San Francisco pier by a man in the country illegally is suing the city and two federal agencies that they say contributed to her death. Kate Steinle's parents filed the wrongful-death lawsuit Friday, May 27, 2016. It accuses the San Francisco Sheriff's Department of failing to notify federal immigration officials that it was releasing Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez from jail. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File) | Eric Risberg

Lawmakers also passed a bill that would increase penalties against deported immigrants who reenter the country illegally. That bill is a response to the 2015 murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco by an immigrant who had been deported five times and was convicted of seven felonies.

Republicans have tried to pass Kate’s Law since then, and are hoping the bill can finally become law under President Trump, who supports it. President Barack Obama had opposed it.