New PRICE Act Doubles Prison Time and Fines for Interfering with ICE Officers

The Protect and Respect ICE Act, or the PRICE Act, is short, but it packs a punch focused entirely on federal criminal penalties. This legislation doesn't change what U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers do; it changes what happens to you if you get in their way. Specifically, Section 2 of the PRICE Act mandates that if you are convicted of assaulting, resisting, or impeding an ICE officer or employee, the maximum prison sentence and the maximum fine you face for that crime are immediately doubled.

The Cost of Interference Just Went Up

To understand this, we need to look at an existing federal law, 18 U.S.C. § 111, which already makes it a crime to assault or resist any federal officer. The PRICE Act doesn't create a new crime; it just dramatically increases the punishment if the victim happens to be an ICE staffer. For example, if the current maximum sentence for a certain level of resistance is, say, six years, under the PRICE Act, that maximum jumps to twelve years—and the fine structure adjusts upward to match. This is a significant escalation of punitive power aimed at deterring interference with this specific agency.

What Does 'Impeding' Mean in Real Life?

The biggest real-world impact comes down to the term "impeding." Assaulting or resisting an officer is fairly clear, but "impeding" can be a broad term. Imagine you’re filming an arrest on a public sidewalk and an officer tells you to move. If your actions are later interpreted as 'impeding' their work, the maximum penalty for that offense is now doubled because the officer was with ICE. While the intent is to protect federal agents, the concern is that doubling the penalty for something as potentially vague as 'impeding' could lead to disproportionately harsh sentences for minor acts of non-compliance or interference, especially in high-tension situations.

Who Feels the Change?

For ICE officers, the bill offers a clear benefit: enhanced protection and deterrence against interference. They are the beneficiaries of this increased severity. However, the groups negatively impacted are anyone who might find themselves in a confrontation with an ICE officer—whether it's a member of the public trying to intervene, a person being arrested who resists, or even someone engaged in protest or civil disobedience that crosses the line into 'impeding.' If you are charged under this section, you are now facing double the maximum potential time behind bars compared to if you had committed the same offense against a federal officer from a different agency, like the FBI or the Forest Service. This creates a specific, and much harsher, penalty track tied directly to interactions with ICE personnel.