http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2017/roll344.xml

The Roll Call vote on HR 3004, Kate's Law, 29 June 2017

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I believe this tweet by Justin Amash addressed his vote on Kate's Law, sort of. I do not find any explanation given as to why he finds the bill unconstitutional. The second bill he alluded to was about sanctuary cities.

Looking at the text, I note that the bill amends the Immigration and Nationality Act under Title 8. It does not amend or create a provision under Title 18, the criminal statutes.

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https://twitter.com/justinamash?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Justin Amash
Verified account @justinamash 23h23 hours ago

I voted no today on two bills that together violate the 1st, 4th, 5th, 10th, and 11th Amendments. I will always defend our Constitution.

4,730 replies 1,051 retweets 3,431 likes
Justin Amash
Verified account @justinamash Jun 29

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Text of Kate's Law

[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2193 Placed on Calendar Senate (PCS)]

                                                       Calendar No. 276
114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2193

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to increase penalties for 
individuals who illegally reenter the United States after being removed 
                        and for other purposes.


___________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 21, 2015

 Mr. Cruz (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Vitter, Mr. Perdue, and Mr. 
  Rubio) introduced the following bill; which was read the first time

                            October 22, 2015

            Read the second time and placed on the calendar

___________________________________________

                                 A BILL

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to increase penalties for 
individuals who illegally reenter the United States after being removed 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLES.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Stop Illegal Reentry Act'' or as 
``Kate's Law''.

SEC. 2. INCREASED PENALTIES FOR REENTRY OF REMOVED ALIEN.

    Section 276 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1326) 
is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as subsections 
        (d) and (e), respectively;
            (2) by striking subsections (a) and (b) and inserting the 
        following:
    ``(a) In General.--Subject to subsections (b) and (c), any alien 
who--
            ``(1) has been denied admission, excluded, deported, or 
        removed or has departed the United States while an order of 
        exclusion, deportation, or removal is outstanding; and
            ``(2) thereafter enters, attempts to enter, or is at any 
        time found in, the United States, unless--
                    ``(A) prior to the alien's reembarkation at a place 
                outside the United States or the alien's application 
                for admission from foreign contiguous territory, the 
                Secretary of Homeland Security has expressly consented 
                to such alien's reapplying for admission; or
                    ``(B) with respect to an alien previously denied 
                admission and removed, such alien shall establish that 
                the alien was not required to obtain such advance 
                consent under this Act or any prior Act;
        shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, or 
        imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
    ``(b) Criminal Penalties for Reentry of Certain Removed Aliens.--
            ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding the penalty provided in 
        subsection (a), and except as provided in subsection (c), an 
        alien described in subsection (a)--
                    ``(A) who was convicted before such removal or 
                departure of three or more misdemeanors involving 
                drugs, crimes against the person, or both, or a felony 
                (other than an aggravated felony), shall be fined under 
                title 18, United States Code, imprisoned not more than 
                10 years, or both;
                    ``(B) who has been excluded from the United States 
                pursuant to section 235(c) because the alien was 
                excludable under section 212(a)(3)(B) or who has been 
                removed from the United States pursuant to the 
                provisions of title V, and who thereafter, without the 
                permission of the Secretary of Homeland Security, 
                enters the United States, or attempts to do so, shall 
                be fined under title 18, United States Code, and 
                imprisoned for a period of 10 years, which sentence 
                shall not run concurrently with any other sentence;
                    ``(C) who was removed from the United States 
                pursuant to section 241(a)(4)(B) who thereafter, 
                without the permission of the Secretary of Homeland 
                Security, enters, attempts to enter, or is at any time 
                found in, the United States (unless the Secretary of 
                Homeland Security has expressly consented to such 
                alien's reentry) shall be fined under title 18, United 
                States Code, imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or 
                both; and
                    ``(D) who has been denied admission, excluded, 
                deported, or removed 3 or more times and thereafter 
                enters, attempts to enter, crosses the border to, 
                attempts to cross the border to, or is at any time 
                found in the United States, shall be fined under title 
                18, United States Code, imprisoned not more than 10 
                years, or both.
            ``(2) Removal defined.--In this subsection and subsection 
        (c), the term `removal' includes any agreement in which an 
        alien stipulates to removal during (or not during) a criminal 
        trial under either Federal or State law.
    ``(c) Mandatory Minimum Criminal Penalty for Reentry of Certain 
Removed Aliens.--Notwithstanding the penalties provided in subsections 
(a) and (b), an alien described in subsection (a)--
            ``(1) who was convicted before such removal or departure of 
        an aggravated felony; or
            ``(2) who was convicted at least two times before such 
        removal or departure of illegal reentry under this section;
shall be imprisoned not less than five years and not more than 20 
years, and may, in addition, be fined under title 18, United States 
Code.''; and
            (3) in subsection (d), as redesignated by paragraph (1)--
                    (A) by striking ``section 242(h)(2)'' and inserting 
                ``section 241(a)(4)''; and
                    (B) by striking ``Attorney General'' and inserting 
                ``Secretary of Homeland Security''.
                                                       Calendar No. 276

114th CONGRESS

  1st Session

                                S. 2193

___________________________________________

                                 A BILL

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to increase penalties for 
individuals who illegally reenter the United States after being removed 
                        and for other purposes.

___________________________________________

                            October 22, 2015

            Read the second time and placed on the calendar

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What is the problem here? As bills go it looks straight forward.

What is the problem here? As bills go it looks straight forward.

It's not clear to me. I guess it must await a clarification by Amash. The only thing I could think of was this imposed severe penalties of imprisonment without resort to creating or changing a criminal statute.