Since the Biden administration isn’t doing anything about illegal immigration, Republicans in the House are trying to take matters into their own hands.
This week, House Republicans introduced new legislation that would force the White House to deport all illegal immigrants or non-citizens immediately if they are found to assault a law enforcement officer.
The bill was introduced on Tuesday and comes at a time when non-citizens and illegal immigrants have been involved in a large increase in violent acts, the House Republicans said. In March, a female agent with the border patrol was trying to make an arrest, but an illegal immigrant assaulted her.
In introducing their bill, Republican members of the House said that the lax enforcement policies of the Biden administration has resulted in a surge of illegal immigrants coming into America, which has ultimately resulted in a surge of violent crime incidents.
The new bill is being spearheaded by Republican Representative Andrew Garbarino of New York, who said in a recent statement:
“As the Biden border crisis rages on, I have serious concerns about the ramifications for law enforcement officers who are on the front lines dealing with migrants. Whether on Long Island or at the southern border, there should be no ambiguity that assaulting a police officer is a deportable offense for non-citizens.”
The new law is being called the POLICE Act. If passed as introduced, the bill would ultimately amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to include language that says any assault on a law enforcement officer would result in immediate deportation.
There are six other GOP lawmakers who are co-sponsoring the bill, and it’s likely to garner a lot of support in the House from Republicans, who have a slight majority. Immigration is one of the top concerns among House Republicans, so it’s very possible it could pass.
If it were to pass through the House, though, it would likely face a stiff challenge in the Senate, where Democrats have a slight 51-49 majority. That means that even if all Republicans in the Senate supported the bill, they would need to convince 11 Democrats to support it as well if they want to avoid the filibuster.
In 2022, Border Patrol apprehended 12,000 illegal immigrants who were involved in, and convicted of, different violent crimes, which includes murder and domestic violence. One year earlier, in 2021, that number was 11,000, and one year before that, there were less than 2,500 illegal immigrants who had a criminal record and were apprehended by Border Patrol.
One of the supporters of the bill, REpresentative Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, said:
“Whether the administration admits it or not, there is a crisis at our southern border, and Americans are less safe because of it. Making violence against law enforcement officers a deportable offense is a commonsense appeal.”
And Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey said that the southern border’s surge of migrants is allowing many criminals to operate within America.
