The debate over criminal justice reform has taken a head-spinning turn on Capitol Hill.

After months of debate over whether to curb mandatory minimum prison sentences, Republicans are now going in the opposite direction.

A new border security bill includes mandatory minimum sentences for certain immigrants who try to re-enter the country after they’ve already been deported and for people convicted of violent crimes against judges and police officers.

The Hill reviewed a draft copy of the legislation, which is still being hammered out by Sen. John Cornyn John CornynBipartisan praise pours in after Ginsburg's death Chamber of Commerce endorses McSally for reelection Airline job cuts loom in battleground states MORE (Texas), the No. 2 Senate Republican, and House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas).

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The legislation includes “Kate’s law,” a measure named for Kathryn Steinle, a 32-year-old woman killed in 2015 by a felon who had been deported but returned to the United States. The law effectively creates a three-strike rule. Immigrants with prior aggravated felony convictions or two prior convictions for illegal re-entry would get a mandatory 5-year sentence.

President Trump repeatedly talked about Steinle during his presidential campaign as he backed policies cracking down on legal and illegal immigration.

The legislation also incorporates Cornyn’s Back the Blue Act, which creates a 30-year mandatory minimum sentence for killing a judge or federal law enforcement officer; a 10-year minimum for assault if the judge or law enforcement officer is seriously injured; a 20-year mandatory minimum if a deadly or dangerous weapon was used in the assault; and a 10-year minimum for fleeing after killing, attempting to kill or conspiring to kill a judge or law enforcement office.

The law defines a law enforcement officer as any federally funded public safety officer or judicial officer for a public agency, including firefighters.

The new legislation represents a shift in the battle over mandatory minimum sentences and criminal justice reform more broadly.

Over the last several years, momentum for eliminating mandatory sentencing laws gained steam with the backing not only of former President Barack Obama Barack Hussein ObamaObama calls on Senate not to fill Ginsburg's vacancy until after election Senate Republicans face tough decision on replacing Ginsburg Cruz: Trump should nominate a Supreme Court justice next week MORE, but also from conservatives such as Sen. Mike Lee Michael (Mike) Shumway LeeMcConnell shores up GOP support for coronavirus package McConnell tries to unify GOP Davis: The Hall of Shame for GOP senators who remain silent on Donald Trump MORE (R-Utah) and Charles and David Koch, the conservative GOP mega-donors and political heavyweights.

With the election of Trump, however, there are some signs that things are now moving in a different direction.

Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsTrump's policies on refugees are as simple as ABCs Ocasio-Cortez, Velázquez call for convention to decide Puerto Rico status White House officials voted by show of hands on 2018 family separations: report MORE have vowed to empower law enforcement and crack down on illegal immigration.

Earlier this month, Sessions reversed an Obama-era directive that aimed to ease mandatory minimums when he ordered federal prosecutors across the country to “pursue the most serious, readily provable offense” that by definition “carry the most substantial guidelines sentence, including mandatory minimums.”

Cornyn’s work on the new bill appears to represent another shift given his past work on the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act. That legislation, which Sen. Dick Durbin Richard (Dick) Joseph DurbinMcConnell focuses on confirming judicial nominees with COVID-19 talks stalled Senate Republicans signal openness to working with Biden Top GOP senator calls for Biden to release list of possible Supreme Court picks MORE (D-Ill.) spearheaded alongside Lee and Sen. Chuck Grassley Charles (Chuck) Ernest GrassleySenate Republicans face tough decision on replacing Ginsburg What Senate Republicans have said about election-year Supreme Court vacancies Biden says Ginsburg successor should be picked by candidate who wins on Nov. 3 MORE (R-Iowa), called for reducing mandatory minimums for certain drug crimes.

Cornyn was one of the first 15 original co-sponsors of that legislation, which never made it to the floor for a vote.

“First Attorney General Sessions sends out a directive asking for U.S. attorneys to prosecute to higher levels, which is contradictory to what our bill hoped to achieve, and then this bill by Sen. Cornyn,” Durbin said.

“I don’t understand his position.”

Cornyn said the new legislation is in draft form and still evolving.

“We don’t have a final product,” he told The Hill on Thursday. “We’ve been sharing some language with the Department of Homeland Security and the House so there isn’t a final product. I know people like to comment on leaked draft documents, but I don’t find that very productive.”

When asked for his response to claims that provisions in his bill contradict his past support for reform, Cornyn said his bill is not a statement about mandatory minimums generally.

“I’m not opposed to all mandatory minimums,” he said. “For example, felons carrying guns, I like the five-year mandatory minimum because it acts as a deterrent and saves lives.”

Susan Phalen, a spokeswoman for the House Homeland Security Committee, declined to comment for the story.

Kevin Ring, president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, said he understands Cornyn's reasoning for supporting minimums for certain crimes.

“But just because you support some [mandatory minimums], doesn’t mean you should support the worst,” he said. “These are incredibly broad and expensive.”

Ring claims the provisions in Cornyn’s bill will cause more damage than any good Grassley's and Durbin’s reforms would have done in terms of reducing the prison population.

“These are two of the biggest prison expanding proposals we’ve seen combined into one massive bill,” he said. “We can’t possibly build prisons fast enough to keep up with the influx we’d have.”