I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION 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
MARCH11, 2025
Mr. M
CDOWELL(for himself, Mr. GILLof Texas, Mr. JACK, Mr. GOLDMAN
of Texas, Mr. M
OOREof West Virginia, Mrs. HARSHBARGER, Mr.
E
DWARDS, Mr. WEBERof Texas, Mr. HAMADEHof Arizona, and Mr.
K
NOTT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee 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 Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Unmasking Hamas 4
Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
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(1) Universities and colleges across America, in-1
cluding Columbia University, California State Poly-2
technic University, the University of New Mexico, 3
and Barnard College, have been increasingly tar-4
geted by violent student protests in the name of 5
Hamas. 6
(2) Violent student protests at universities and 7
colleges across the country have caused significant 8
damage to campus property and have barred univer-9
sity and college students from accessing educational 10
services. 11
(3) Violent protestors continue to utilize masks 12
as a disguise to cover their identity in order to evade 13
the law. 14
(4) Support for designated terrorist organiza-15
tions, antisemitism, and calling for the genocide of 16
Jewish people have no place on our university and 17
college campuses. 18
(5) Iran and Hamas-backed organizations part-19
ner with United States-based anti-Israel organiza-20
tions to fund anti-Israel demonstrations and pro-21
tests. 22
(6) During Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin 23
Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress 24
in 2024, Hamas-sympathetic masked protestors van-25
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dalized Federal property in Washington, DC, across 1
from Union Station. 2
(7) Pro-Hamas advocates have anonymously 3
vandalized multiple memorials and commemorative 4
statues across Washington, DC, including the Lin-5
coln Memorial and the General Lafayette Statue 6
outside of the White House. 7
(8) Anonymous bomb threats to synagogues 8
dramatically increased in the months following 9
Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. 10
(9) Police officers disbanding unlawful assem-11
blies have been subjected to violent confrontations by 12
masked protestors. 13
(10) Masked protests have repeatedly led to the 14
desecration of public property. 15
SEC. 3. INTERFERENCE WITH PROTECTED RIGHTS WHILE 16
IN DISGUISE. 17
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Chapter 13 of title 18, United 18
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 250 the 19
following: 20
‘‘§ 251. Interference with protected rights while in 21
disguise 22
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—Whoever, whether or not acting 23
under color of law, while in disguise, including while wear-24
ing a mask, injures, oppresses, threatens, or intimidates 25
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any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Pos-1
session, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of 2
any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution 3
or laws of the United States, or because of his having so 4
exercised the same, shall be fined under this title, impris-5
oned not more than 15 years, or both. 6
‘‘(b) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-7
tion shall be construed so as to deter any law enforcement 8
officer from lawfully carrying out the duties of his office; 9
and no law enforcement officer shall be considered to be 10
in violation of this section for lawfully carrying out the 11
duties of his office or lawfully enforcing ordinances and 12
laws of the United States, the District of Columbia, any 13
of the several States, or any political subdivision of a 14
State. For purposes of the preceding sentence, the term 15
‘law enforcement officer’ means any officer of the United 16
States, the District of Columbia, a State, or political sub-17
division of a State, who is empowered by law to conduct 18
investigations of, or make arrests because of, offenses 19
against the United States, the District of Columbia, a 20
State, or a political subdivision of a State.’’. 21
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 22
for chapter 13 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 23
by inserting after the item related to section 250 the fol-24
lowing: 25
‘‘251. Interference with protected rights while in disguise.’’.
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SEC. 4. DESTROYING BUILDINGS OR PROPERTY WITHIN 1
SPECIAL MARITIME AND TERRITORIAL JU-2
RISDICTION WHILE IN DISGUISE. 3
Section 1363 of title 18, United States Code, is 4
amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘Whoever, 5
during the commission of an offense under this section, 6
wears a disguise, including a mask, shall, in addition to 7
any term of imprisonment otherwise imposed under this 8
section, be imprisoned for 2 years.’’. 9
Æ
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