THE CENTER SQUARE—The U.S. House passed a bill last week to deport and make inadmissible criminal foreign nationals convicted of domestic violence and sex-related offenses, including sex crimes against children. It passed with bipartisan support but with the majority of Democrats, 158, voting against it.
The bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act “to provide that aliens who have been convicted of or who have committed sex offenses or domestic violence are inadmissible and deportable.” This includes stalking, child abuse, child neglect, child abandonment, violation of protective orders, including credible threats of violence, repeated harassment, and conspiracy to commit a sex offense as grounds for deportation, according to the bill language.
It also includes crimes defined in the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006: child sex offenders, sexual predators, child sex traffickers, using minors in a sexual performance, soliciting a minor to practice prostitution, producing or distributing child pornography, transporting with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, among others.
The greatest number of Democrats by state who voted against it are 36 from California, 13 from New York, 12 from Illinois, and nine from Texas, according to an analysis of the vote by The Center Square. In Massachusetts and Maryland, where violent offenders are being arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, eight and seven Democrats, respectively, voted against deporting such offenders.
These Democrats voted against some current practices of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers who, under the Biden-Harris administration, are arresting sex offenders thousands of miles from the border in major cities. In Boston, Baltimore, and New York, for example, ICE ERO agents are arresting foreign nationals who illegally entered the country after being previously deported and who were convicted of crimes in other states.
In Massachusetts, ICE ERO Boston officers recently arrested a Brazilian national charged with indecent assault and battery against a Nantucket resident over age 14. They also arrested a Salvadoran national charged with numerous sex crimes against a child on Nantucket Island, including child rape and indecent assault and battery.
They also recently arrested a Guatemalan national convicted of molesting a Missouri minor. He was previously deported, illegally reentered the country, and has an extensive criminal history, according to ICE.
In another case, they arrested a Guatemalan national charged with raping a Massachusetts resident. This is after he was convicted of assault and battery on a family or household member and arraigned on two counts of rape and indecent assault and battery on a person over 14. ICE said, “He posed a significant threat to the members of our community.”
In another case, they arrested an 18-year-old Haitian national charged with indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 in Massachusetts.
In Maryland, ICE ERO Baltimore officers apprehended a Mexican national in Gaithersburg convicted of sex crimes against a minor. He illegally entered the U.S. at an unknown date and location and has an extensive criminal history. They also arrested a sex offender from Honduras who was convicted of sex crimes against a minor. He was previously deported and has an extensive criminal record.
They also arrested a Honduran national illegally in the U.S. who was convicted of raping a Maryland resident. His “landmark arrest” was the 153rd noncitizen sex offender arrested in Maryland this fiscal year, ICE reported.
ICE ERO New York officers recently arrested a Honduran man and sex offender who was previously deported four times. He was most recently convicted by a court in Philadelphia for unlawful sexual contact with a minor, indecent assault of a person less than 13 years old, among other charges. He also has an extensive criminal history.
Several House Democrats said they voted against the bill because it would hurt victims. Others said it was a political bill in an election year and attacked its author, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C. Others claimed the bill didn’t close a loophole in the law that Mace and others claim it does.
Despite their claims, ICE field office directors repeatedly argue it is necessary to deport sex offenders. In their press releases, they repeatedly describe the violent crimes committed against Americans and against migrants, including children.
Their focus as law enforcement is “on prioritizing public safety by apprehending and removing egregious noncitizen offenders” who present a “significant threat to our youngest residents and the community as a whole.”
ICE agents will “relentlessly pursue heinous predators who prey on our children and remove them from the United States,” they maintain.
The 158 Democrats voting against the bill “shows the American people they care more about illegal aliens than our women and children,” Mace said.
