# Plain Language Summary: Stop COYOTES Act

This bill creates a new federal crime that adds extra prison time for people who commit serious crimes against children near schools, parks, and youth centers. Specifically, if someone commits certain felonies involving minors—like kidnapping, child sexual abuse, human trafficking, or child exploitation—within 1,000 feet of a school, college, playground, public park, or youth center, they can receive up to 10 additional years in prison on top of whatever sentence they already get for the underlying crime. This extra sentence must be served consecutively, meaning the person serves the additional 10 years after completing their original sentence. The law applies to anyone under 18 years old and covers a wide range of child protection laws already on the books.

The bill also requires federal immigration and border enforcement agencies to share information about human trafficking, smuggling operations, and related crimes with state and local law enforcement agencies, particularly those working near the U.S. borders. Every six months, the Department of Homeland Security must report to Congress about cases involving illegal border crossings, human trafficking, alien smuggling, kidnapping for trafficking purposes, abuse by smugglers, and drug or gun smuggling. This information-sharing is designed to help law enforcement at all levels coordinate their efforts to combat trafficking networks and organized smuggling operations that prey on vulnerable people, especially children.

In practical terms, this bill makes it significantly harder for traffickers and smugglers to operate without facing severe consequences, and it ensures that federal agencies working on the border share what they learn with local police departments and state authorities who may encounter victims or perpetrators in their communities.