119-hr2065

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2065 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 2065

To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide penalty enhancements 
 for committing certain offenses while in disguise, and for other 
 purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 March 11, 2025

Mr. McDowell (for himself, Mr. Gill of Texas, Mr. Jack, Mr. Goldman of 
 Texas, Mr. Moore of West Virginia, Mrs. Harshbarger, Mr. Edwards, Mr. 
 Weber of Texas, Mr. Hamadeh of Arizona, and Mr. Knott) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide penalty enhancements 
 for committing certain offenses while in disguise, and for other 
 purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Unmasking Hamas Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

 Congress finds the following:

    (1) Universities and colleges across America, including 
 Columbia University, California State Polytechnic University, 
 the University of New Mexico, and Barnard College, have been 
 increasingly targeted by violent student protests in the name 
 of Hamas.

    (2) Violent student protests at universities and colleges 
 across the country have caused significant damage to campus 
 property and have barred university and college students from 
 accessing educational services.

    (3) Violent protestors continue to utilize masks as a 
 disguise to cover their identity in order to evade the law.

    (4) Support for designated terrorist organizations, 
 antisemitism, and calling for the genocide of Jewish people 
 have no place on our university and college campuses.

    (5) Iran and Hamas-backed organizations partner with United 
 States-based anti-Israel organizations to fund anti-Israel 
 demonstrations and protests.

    (6) During Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu's 
 address to a joint session of Congress in 2024, Hamas-
 sympathetic masked protestors vandalized Federal property in 
 Washington, DC, across from Union Station.

    (7) Pro-Hamas advocates have anonymously vandalized 
 multiple memorials and commemorative statues across Washington, 
 DC, including the Lincoln Memorial and the General Lafayette 
 Statue outside of the White House.

    (8) Anonymous bomb threats to synagogues dramatically 
 increased in the months following Hamas's October 7, 2023, 
 attack on Israel.

    (9) Police officers disbanding unlawful assemblies have 
 been subjected to violent confrontations by masked protestors.

    (10) Masked protests have repeatedly led to the desecration 
 of public property.

SEC. 3. INTERFERENCE WITH PROTECTED RIGHTS WHILE IN DISGUISE.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 13 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by inserting after 

section 250 the following:
``

Sec. 251. Interference with protected rights while in disguise
 ``

    (a) In General.--Whoever, whether or not acting under color of 
law, while in disguise, including while wearing a mask, injures, 
oppresses, threatens, or intimidates any person in any State, 
Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise 
or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the 
Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so 
exercised the same, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not 
more than 15 years, or both.
 ``

    (b) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed so as to deter any law enforcement officer from lawfully 
carrying out the duties of his office; and no law enforcement officer 
shall be considered to be in violation of this section for lawfully 
carrying out the duties of his office or lawfully enforcing ordinances 
and laws of the United States, the District of Columbia, any of the 
several States, or any political subdivision of a State. For purposes 
of the preceding sentence, the term `law enforcement officer' means any 
officer of the United States, the District of Columbia, a State, or 
political subdivision of a State, who is empowered by law to conduct 
investigations of, or make arrests because of, offenses against the 
United States, the District of Columbia, a State, or a political 
subdivision of a State.''.

    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 13 of 
title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item 
related to 

section 250 the following:

``251. Interference with protected rights while in disguise.''.

SEC. 4. DESTROYING BUILDINGS OR PROPERTY WITHIN SPECIAL MARITIME AND 
 TERRITORIAL JURISDICTION WHILE IN DISGUISE.

 

Section 1363 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following: ``Whoever, during the commission of an 
offense under this section, wears a disguise, including a mask, shall, 
in addition to any term of imprisonment otherwise imposed under this 
section, be imprisoned for 2 years.''.
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