On Monday, a bombshell report by ICE Deputy Director Patrick Lechleitner, shared originally by U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, quickly went viral among Republicans. The study said that as of July 21 there were 662,566 noncitizens with criminal histories on the agency's non-detained docket (NDD), out of which more than 435,000 are convicted criminals and 226,847 of them have pending criminal charges.
The report was quickly picked up by former president Donald Trump, who blamed the Biden administration letting convicted felons "free to roam and kill in our country." The Department of Homeland Security, however, came out to clarify that the data had been "misinterpreted" as it includes people who entered the country over the past 40 year or more, the vast majority of whose custody determination was made long before this administration.
Nevertheless, the report has now prompted Iowa Republican Sens. Charles E. Grassley and Joni Ernst to propose legislation that would deport undocumented immigrants convicted of sex crimes. This is because the report mentions that 15,811 people with sex convictions are among those currently outside of ICE custody.
The Better Enforcement of Grievous Offenses by Unnaturalized Emigrants (BE GONE) Act would classify sexual assault and aggravated sexual violence as "aggravated felonies" under the Immigration and Nationality Act. Migrants convicted of "aggravated felonies" would be subjected to immediate deportation and barred from reentering the U.S., as The Washington Times reports.
Grassley and Ernst didn't mince words when it came to justifying the proposed bill, blaming the high numbers reported by ICE squarely on the shoulders of the Biden administration.
On a statement on his website, Grassley stated that "the Biden-Harris administration's open border policies have allowed criminals to enter our country and threaten the safety of our communities." Ernst echoed the sentiment, taking an additional jab at Democratic candidate Kamala Harris:
"These violent criminals never would have entered America in the first place if we had real border security, but now that they're in our communities, they need to BE GONE. Since Border Czar Kamala Harris won't protect this country, then I will. My legislation will combat sexual violence by ensuring predators are identified, stopped and deported."
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