by Bethany Blankley
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill to deport undocumented immigrants convicted of domestic violence and sex crimes, including child sex crimes, although it was not without controversy.
Nearly all Democrats voted against the bill filed by U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., the Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act, on Thursday. They attacked the bill before the vote; Mace said their comments were “disgraceful.”
“I think this debate is shameful. I am a rape survivor myself. I understand the trauma of a lifetime as a survivor of rape, as someone who has been in a domestic violence situation where I have been a victim. I don’t want to hear that. If you are here illegally at all, you should leave,” she said. he said.
The bill passed by a vote of 266-158, with 215 Republicans and 51 Democrats voting in favor. Seven members abstained, with 158 Democrats voting. I voted against it.
“We are tired of headlines about women who have lost their lives or been the victims of attackers who have illegally entered our country as a result of the Biden-Harris border crisis,” Mace said. “This law sends a strong message: If you are an illegal immigrant who has committed acts of violence against women, you will not find sanctuary here.”
The mace too posted a video in X, saying, “Every member who votes against this bill shows the American people that they care more about illegal immigrants than about our women and children.”
This the bill would change The Immigration and Nationality Act “provides that aliens who have been convicted of or have committed sex or domestic violence offenses are inadmissible and subject to deportation.” This includes stalking, child abuse, child neglect, child abandonment, violation of protective orders, including credible threats of violence, repeated stalking, and conspiracy to commit a sex offense as grounds for deportation, according to the bill’s language.
It also includes offences under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act 2006: child sex offenders, sexual predators, child traffickers, exploiting minors for sexual purposes, inducing minors into prostitution, producing or distributing child pornography, transporting children for the purpose of committing a sexual offence and others.
“It seems like every few days we hear about little girls and young teenagers or mothers who have been kidnapped by illegal immigrants, raped by illegal immigrants, murdered by illegal immigrants, none of whom have a right to be here, all of whom have been smuggled into our country by the policies of this administration,” said U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock, R-CA, he said in an impassioned speech on the House floor. “These entirely avoidable tragedies will continue to happen as long as [Biden-Harris] this policy will continue.
“Democrats often talk about the war on women over abortion or employment policy, but they don’t seem to care about allowing a flood of sex offenders, domestic violence offenders, and pedophiles into our country and allowing them to remain indefinitely free from fear of deportation,” he continued. “And when these monsters commit these horrible acts, and their grieving mothers appear before our committee, Democrats put on their best long faces, assure everyone how much they and their families are suffering, and then argue to continue the exact same policies that led to this nightmare in the first place.”
He added that the bill “closes all loopholes in the current law and provides that illegal immigrants who have committed sexual or domestic violence crimes will no longer be allowed into the country and must be immediately deported from our country if found.”
Current law allows for some exceptions for people convicted of moral turpitude, depending on the offender’s age at the time of the crime and whether they had served a prison sentence. The bill eliminates existing exceptions, Republicans say.
Republic of the USA Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, he said didn’t fix the loophole, otherwise he would have voted for it. “In fact, the redundancies in this bill all but guarantee that no additional dangerous individuals will face immigration consequences if the bill becomes law. Instead, the overly broad definition and lack of any waiver authority in this bill would result in extraordinarily harsh and unintended consequences, including the removal of victims of domestic violence.”
U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-WA, who opposed the bill, said: “Republicans went on the House floor today pretending they care about victims of domestic violence — but that was just a cover to continue blaming immigrants. Their bill would hurt victims of domestic violence by not giving them the protections they deserve. It’s a disgrace.”
Mace he pointed to A September 2021 memorandum from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents listed categories of illegal aliens who should not be deported, including perpetrators of domestic violence, because it “could make victims of domestic violence less likely to report the crime.”
“How many American women and girls have been beaten and bloodied because of this madness?” Mace said. “Under my bill, any illegal immigrant who commits a sex crime is inadmissible to our country and immediately deported. We should not allow them into our country under any circumstances, and if we catch them, we will send them back.”
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Bethany Blankley is a contributor Central Square.
