Speech #CREC-2017-09-13-pt1-PgH7325_t33

So Mr. Speaker I make no apologies for doing my job and questioning where necessary on behalf of the American people. We should be having vigorous debate on matters such as jobs, schools, health care, victims of Charlottesville, victims of climate change, building bridges, healing broken communities, and bringing this country together for `all' the American people, we are instead debating a damaged bill in order to advance the President's campaign promise on mass deportation, thus, distracting us from the people's business. We are also uniting in protecting the American people against violent crime. I care deeply about crime as Ranking Member of the Judiciary Crime Subcommittee, thus, if we want to have that debate here on the floor, let's have a wholesome conversation. The FBI reports some 33,000 violent street gangs, motorcycle gangs, and prison gangs with about 1.4 million members that are criminally active in the U.S. and Puerto Rico today. Many are sophisticated and well organized; all use violence to control neighborhoods and boost their illegal money-making activities, which include robbery, drug and gun trafficking, prostitution and human trafficking, and fraud. Striking, for this conversation, in these 33,000 street gangs, a significantly larger percentage were non illegal immigrants, as this bill's objective purports. Some of those street gangs include: 211 Crew, American Front, Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, Aryan Circle, Aryan Nation, Aryan Republican Army, Born to Kill, Dead Man Incorporated, European Kindred, just to name a few here that are mainly white supremacist gang groups. We could go on, as gangs are found everywhere, in almost every ethnic group. As a result, I oppose this Rule and the underlying bill for several reasons; first, it has a discriminatory effect in targeting the immigrant community by criminalizing immigration, and thereby, raises due process and racial profiling concerns. I offered an amendment which would have cured this defect by requiring a uniform legal standard in the Secretary of Homeland Security's designation of `criminal street gang' for purposes of ICE enforcement. Based on the government's own data via the FBI, it is clear that criminal street gangs are not exclusively limited to the immigrant community. Second, I oppose this Rule because the bill has a sweeping effect that will criminalize and/or deport anyone remotely connected to a supposed gang member, even where there is no conviction and alarmingly, no arrest. My second amendment would raise the standard of proof from a mere belief that someone is associated with a criminal street gang, to clear and convincing evidence. This bill lacks a constitutional construct for how Homeland Security is to determine its designation of a `criminal street gang'. That is why I offered my third amendment, which would have required a uniform legal standard which will govern the identification of Criminal Street gang members for purposes of ICE enforcement. According to this bill, `any' immigrant, including minors, such as a 13 or 14 year old juvenile, would be subject to the harsh penalties of detention and deportation. If we begin to criminalize people merely for their associations, then we are heading down a terribly dark road. Statistics show that the brain does not fully develop until the age of 25, and thus to punish juveniles for the mere associations they may have, is a bad idea and bad legislation.