House bill requires deportation of illegal immigrants with sex offense records

The Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act, introduced by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), passed the lower chamber by a vote of 266 to 158, with 51 Democrats joining in. Republicans are pushing the measure. If signed into law, the bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to make “aliens” convicted of or having committed sexual offenses or domestic violence “inadmissible and deportable.”

Mace, who has often spoken out against her party for its treatment of women, said in an op-ed in the South Carolina-based newspaper: Post and messaging Last week, she said she was “fed up with weak politicians pointing to questionable data and making excuses for illegal immigrants coming into our country and raping and murdering women and children.”

“Bill HR7909 is a matter of common sense, a quality that is sorely lacking in Washington today,” Mace wrote. “This bill ensures that predatory threats with prior convictions for sexual assault, domestic violence, and other heinous crimes are removed or immediately deported.”

“The law ensures that those who pose a threat are removed before they can cause further harm,” the MP continued. “It’s time to stop coddling criminals and start standing up for innocent victims who deserve justice and families who deserve peace of mind.”

House Republican leaders spoke about the importance of the bill ahead of the vote at the GOP’s weekly news conference Wednesday. Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) lambasted “woke prosecutors” who have arrested illegal immigrants for murder but not for other crimes against women.

“Every member of the House should vote for this bill,” Scalise said. “But if a Democrat votes against it, they will have to explain to their constituents who are watching this law unfold in every community across America why they would rather stand with illegal immigrants than with women in the districts they represent.”

During debate on the bill, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) lambasted Democrats for calling it a “war on women” over abortion, “but it seems like they don’t care at all about letting a flood of sex offenders, domestic violence offenders and child molesters into our country.”

“Democrats say this bill is a duplication of existing law,” McClintock said. “If that’s true, why are they opposing it? Democrats say it’s unnecessary, but tell that to the growing number of families who are footing the bill for these open-border policies.”

House Judiciary Committee member Jerry Nadler (D-NY) called the legislation a Republican attempt to “scapegoat and fearmonger about immigrants.”

“Sex offenses and domestic violence are serious crimes, and if this bill closed a gap in current law, I would have no problem supporting it,” Nadler said during the debate. “But that’s not the case here. In fact, the redundancies in this bill ensure that no additional dangerous individuals would face immigration consequences if it were to become law.”

Nadler argued that domestic violence and sex crimes are already deplorable crimes, and that the bill’s “overly broad” definitions and lack of waiver authority would lead to “extremely harsh and unintended consequences, including the deportation of survivors of domestic violence.”

Mace called the discussion around his bill during the debate on the legislation “shameful.”

“I’m a rape survivor myself,” Mace said. “I understand the lifelong trauma as a rape survivor, as a victim of domestic violence. I don’t want to hear that. If you’re here illegally, you should leave.”

Mace’s bill is part of a series of broader border and “woke” bills proposed by Republicans this week. As the House GOP seeks to expand its slim majority in 2024, Republicans have proposed several bills targeting the border crisis and seeking to tie vulnerable Democrats to the Biden-Harris administration’s policies.

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Also on the ballot Wednesday was a resolution to extend funding through March of next year, in conjunction with the Republicans’ SAVE Act, which would ban noncitizens from voting in federal elections. The CR Act is expected to fail on the ballot, as most Democrats and a handful of Republicans oppose it.

Given Johnson’s four-seat majority, leaders will have to go back to the drawing board to reach a spending deal, which will prove difficult as former President Donald Trump continues to urge his party to shut down the government unless the SAVE Act is passed.

Cami Mondeaux contributed to this report.