EXCLUSIVE: GOP Senator Introducing Bill To Yank Passports From Fraudsters Accused Of Swindling Taxpayers

Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst plans to introduce legislation that would require alleged fraudsters to surrender their passports as a condition of pretrial release, the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation learned Friday.

The “Preventing Fugitive Fraudsters Act” would require defendants accused of government program fraud to surrender their passports upon pretrial release to ensure they cannot flee the U.S. Many defendants accused of fraud were released on bail and fled the U.S. despite warnings that they posed a flight risk.

“Fugitive fraudsters are fleeing justice and the country with stolen taxpayer dollars in tow, enabled by lenient liberal judges letting them keep their passports before trial,” Ernst told the DCNF. “Anyone ripping off hardworking Americans does not need a passport to reach their final destination, which should be behind bars. We need to ground these high-flying con artists for good.”

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Preventing Fugitive Fraudsters Act by nicolesilverio

Ernst’s office told the DCNF when asked about potential due process concerns that because there is no right to pretrial release, no due process rights would be infringed.

However, Michael Fox, a CATO Institute legal fellow, told the DCNF that the legislation was a “dangerous solution” that could force low-risk defendants with no foreign connections to unnecessarily surrender their passports. He argued the legislation was rooted in a “profound misunderstanding of federal bail law.”