Sponsor
Thomas Bryant Cotton
Senator · R-AR
Senator · R-AR
Adds mandatory minimums: 20 years for smuggling/conspiracy to smuggle biological agents or toxins, and 5 years for false statements related to importation/authorization of such materials.
Official title: Impose mandatory minimum sentences for conspiracy to smuggle biological agents into the United States and for making false statements to Federal agents in connection with such smuggling, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 10, 2026 by Thomas Bryant Cotton · Last progress June 10, 2026
The bill increases criminal penalties to strengthen deterrence and prosecutorial clarity for biological-agent importation and smuggling, but at the cost of mandatory minimum sentences that raise incarceration costs, risk coerced pleas, and may chill legitimate research and shipments.
People in the U.S., especially border communities and the general public, would face stronger deterrence against attempts to smuggle dangerous biological agents because conspiracies to smuggle carry a 20-year mandatory minimum.
Hospitals, health systems, and the public would have reduced risk from fraudulent import declarations because making false statements about importation or permits for biological agents would carry a 5-year mandatory minimum.
Prosecutors and federal law enforcement would have clearer sentencing tools for offenses involving biological agents, potentially improving public-safety prosecutions and more uniform penalties.
People convicted under these provisions — including low-level or peripheral participants — would face long mandatory prison terms (5–20 years), increasing incarceration rates and long-term costs borne by taxpayers.
Defendants, including minor or peripheral actors, are more likely to be coerced into plea bargains to avoid severe mandatory sentences, reducing judicial discretion and raising risks of unjust convictions.
Hospitals, researchers, and legitimate importers could be penalized for paperwork errors or ambiguous declarations, creating a deterrent effect that may impede legitimate research, medical supply shipments, and cross-border collaboration.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Makes smuggling or conspiring to smuggle biological agents or toxins into the United States a crime with long mandatory minimum prison terms. The bill adds mandatory minimums: 20 years for conspiracies to smuggle or attempting to smuggle biological agents or toxins, 20 years for smuggling or attempted smuggling, and 5 years for false statements or concealment related to importation or authorization of biological agents or toxins. The changes apply only to offenses committed on or after the law takes effect.