Republican Georgia Rep. Mike Collins reintroduced legislation Thursday to criminalize protests that block highways.
Collins’ Safe Passage on Interstates Act would make intentionally blocking interstate highways a crime, according to background information on the bill obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. Though criminal penalties on intentionally obstructing highways exist at the state level, Congress has not yet passed a law making this conduct illegal nationwide, according to Collins’ office.
I will soon reintroduce legislation to make blocking a highway intentionally a federal crime. First Hamas supporters, now illegals and their enablers, are stopping traffic. To make America safe again, we must have law and order. https://t.co/cAp8Z5nUbI
— Rep. Mike Collins (@RepMikeCollins) February 2, 2025
“These needless and dangerous protests have blocked children on their way to hospitals, families traveling for holidays, and commuters just trying to get to work,” Collins told the DCNF. “Unless we impose real penalties on these protestors, American travelers will continue to be held hostage to these activists. They belong in jail, not on our highways.”
“It is irresponsible and dangerous to cede control of interstate transportation to left-wing lunatics any longer,” Collins added in a statement shared with the DCNF. “The Safe Passage on Interstates Act criminalizes these reckless acts and will make everyone who travels our highways safer.”
The bill is being cosponsored by Republican Reps. Michael Rulli of Ohio, Mark Green of Tennessee, Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa and Tom McClintock of California.
Collins first introduced the bill in April 2024, but it did not pass out of the House Judiciary Committee. Secretary of State Marco Rubio introduced a Senate companion to the bill while serving as Florida’s senior senator, but the bill was not formally taken up by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Collins’ decision to reintroduce the legislation follows California protestors waving Mexican flags while shutting down a Los Angeles highway on Sunday to protest Trump’s ongoing deportation efforts. Similar protests over immigration, climate change and the Israel-Hamas war have previously caused major traffic disruptions in New York, Chicago and San Francisco.
Collins has already notched one legislative win in his belt during the 119th Congress. His bill to curtail illegal immigration, known as the Laken Riley Act, was the first bill President Donald Trump signed into law upon taking office.
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