The House on Thursday passed legislation that would make membership in a criminal gang grounds for deportation.
The bill, called the Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act, passed 233-175.
Pleased the House passed the Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act, which I introduced, by a bipartisan vote today. https://t.co/LwxmsbkwmG pic.twitter.com/oodFjRV7eh
— Barbara Comstock (@RepComstock) September 14, 2017
Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) introduced the bill specifically to target the violent criminal gang MS-13, which is largely compromised of immigrants and illegals from Central America, primarily El Salvador. In a statement issued after the bill’s passage, Comstock said, “In Northern Virginia there have been at least eight brutal murders tied to the transnational MS-13 gang since last November.”
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said, “In the last year-and-a-half, 17 innocent young people have been slaughtered with machetes and knives by MS-13.”
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) estimates there are more than 10,000 MS-13 members living in the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security also issued a statement in support of the bill, stating that, “This legislation will help DHS in its continued efforts to identify, arrest, imprison and/or remove transnational gang members and to suppress violence and prosecute criminal enterprises.”
The bill will give DHS the power to designate a group of five or more people as a criminal gang. Any immigrants determined to have participated in the gang or furthered its illegal activity can be detained and deported.
Unsurprisingly, Democrat members of the House largely opposed the legislation. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said the bill “would shred due process protections and would allow deportations of innocent immigrants based on the flimsiest of evidence.”
As a native of Northern Virginia, I’ve been well aware of MS-13 – and their penchant for machetes – my entire life, and I believe the House was 100 percent correct to pass this bill. How many more innocent Americans have to die at the hands of criminal illegals before liberals began to take seriously their threat to our country? If the Senate has the best interests of America in mind, they’ll send this bill to President Trump’s desk.
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