Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC), Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced legislation on Tuesday that would prohibit people with gang ties from receiving deferred deportation and other immigration benefits.
The bill follows a recent acknowledgement by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that it incorrectly granted deferred action for a known gang member who is now being charged with four counts of first-degree murder.
“The circumstances around this bill are incredibly sad – four are dead following this administration’s inability to enforce their own ill-conceived executive order,” Burr said. “If the president can’t take steps to ensure that Americans are safe from criminal gang members, then Congress must take preventative action. I hope that Congress will pass this law to ensure criminals cannot stay in this country, even under this president’s edict.”
The proposed bill would:
• Make current and former members of a criminal gang inadmissible into the country and deportable
• Define “gang” under current criminal code
• Require the mandatory detention of people arrested by the Department of Homeland Security who are members of a criminal gang
• Make criminal gang members ineligible for deferred action, and limit the use of parole
• Expedite removal procedures for dangerous criminals, terrorists and gang members.
“It’s unfortunate that an act of Congress is required to explicitly prevent the federal government from providing safe haven to criminal gang members, but it’s clear that the current policies and practices are not working,” Grassley said.