Calvert again offers bill to enforce removal of criminal illegal immigrants

U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) on Jan. 9 reintroduced a bill that would incentivize state and local law enforcement agencies to comply with federal law enforcement requests to transfer the custody of criminal illegal immigrants for their removal from the United States.

“When states and local law enforcement agencies refuse to turn over illegal immigrants convicted of violent crimes to federal law enforcement for removal from our country they are putting our communities at risk,” Rep. Calvert said on Monday. “America is a nation of immigrants, but we are a beacon of hope throughout the world because we respect and enforce the rule of law.”

The congressman sponsored the Help Ensure Legal Detainers (HELD) Act, H.R. 136, which would deny federal funding to any state or political subdivision of a state that has in effect any law, policy, or procedure that prevents or impedes a state or local law enforcement official from maintaining custody of an alien pursuant to an immigration detainer issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to the text of the bill.

“The HELD Act is rooted in the widespread belief that dangerous and violent criminal illegal immigrants should be given a one-way ticket out of our country,” said Rep. Calvert. 

If enacted, H.R. 136 also would require local municipalities to promptly respond to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer notice issued by the DHS Secretary that requests information about an illegal immigrant in custody so that the secretary may arrange for custody of the illegal immigrant, according to a bill summary provided by the lawmaker’s office.

Additionally, H.R. 136 would require local municipalities to maintain custody of an illegal immigrant for up to 48 hours pursuant to an immigration detainer so that he or she can be transferred to the custody of DHS, the summary says.

H.R. 136 also includes an exception for cases in which a county may have a policy in place that prevents local law enforcement from working with ICE while cities within that county may have no such policy, the summary states, noting that in such cases, the flow of federal funding that would normally go through the county would go directly to the city.

Rep. Calvert originally sponsored the HELD Act in January 2021, but that bill stalled in two subcommittees of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. The reintroduced H.R. 136 has been referred for consideration to the House Judiciary Committee.