U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Salem, introduced legislation to make it a crime, punishable by up to five years in federal prison, for people, after being given a verbal warning not to approach, to be within 25 feet of on-duty federal immigration officers and “harass” them.

Called the Halo Act, the bill requires a 25-foot “halo” around federal immigration officers, including those from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, after an individual is verbally told that person’s conduct is considered harassing.

It is a companion bill to one introduced Nov. 18 in the Senate by Republicans that was referred the same day to the Senate Judiciary Committee. It hasn’t had a Senate committee hearing since its introduction by U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, a Florida Republican. There are 12 Republican co-sponsors of the Senate bill, including Bernie Moreno of Ohio.

Rulli said: “Our ICE agents and federal immigration officers put themselves in harm’s way every single day to enforce our laws and protect our communities. The American people voted for law and order in November 2024. They voted for secure borders and for the men and women who enforce our laws to be supported in the line of duty — not harassed, threatened or assaulted. The Halo Act makes it crystal clear: if you try to intimidate or obstruct federal officers doing their job, there will be consequences.”

An ICE agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, 37, in Minneapolis on Jan. 7 with a Jan. 24 fatal shooting in the same city of Alex Pretti, 37, by a Border Patrol agent working with ICE. Both were U.S. citizens. Since September, federal immigration officers have shot at least a dozen other people — some fatally — including other U.S. citizens, according to NBC News.

Rulli, whose district includes Mahoning and Columbiana counties, said the bill is needed because of a “drastic increase of violence towards ICE personnel.”

The bill describes the term “harass” as “to knowingly engage in a course of conflict directed at a federal immigration enforcement officer that causes substantial emotional distress in that federal immigration enforcement officer and serves no legitimate purpose.”

The bill states after a person is verbally warned “not to approach from an individual whom the person knows or reasonably should know is a federal immigration enforcement officer” in the line of duty, the crime of “obstructing immigration enforcement activities” could be filed if that person comes within 25 feet of the office to “impede or interfere with the ability of the federal immigration enforcement officer to perform that legal duty, threaten the federal immigration officer with physical harm, or harass the federal immigration enforcement officer.”

A person convicted could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.

The bill is modeled after Florida law, which establishes a 25-foot buffer zone around first responders, Moody said.

Rulli’s bill, introduced Thursday, has three co-sponsors, who are all Republicans.

U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, an Idaho Republican and one of the co-sponsors, said the bill seeks to “hold agitators accountable, and to shield the brave men and women who serve and protect our communities.”

The Halo Act is the latest bill sponsored by Rulli that seemingly has little to nothing to do with his district and appears intended to please Trump and his supporters.

It includes a resolution to formally censure Democratic Congressman Al Green for a protest during Trump’s State of the Union address, a resolution to designate July 13 as Faith and Defiance Day to honor Trump’s “unshakable courage in the face of life-threatening hatred” during an assassination attempt on that date in 2024, a bill to punish any government that celebrates Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of Columbus Day, and another bill to redirect an estimated $300 million in federal gambling taxes from the U.S. Treasury to ICE.

The Green censure resolution was referred to the House Ethics Committee and has two co-sponsors. The Faith and Defiance Day resolution and the Columbus Day bill were referred to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee with no co-sponsors. The ICE gambling bill was referred to two House committees and has one co-sponsor.

None of the bills have received committee hearings.