Had H.R. 3697 been enacted prior, that number would have
almost certainly increased. This bill is only starting the removal process, however. Make no
mistake--and there was a lot of obfuscation today about this--
immigration proceedings do not equate to deportation. The government
must prove its case and provide evidence to convince an immigration
judge that gang-related activity occurred. As a former private immigration attorney, I have seen this process in
action, and it does work. ICE will not use this new charge as pretext,
as this ground will never be sustained by an immigration judge without
sufficient evidence. The time for this bill is long overdue, and we cannot afford to be
distracted by extreme hypotheticals and issues not germane to what we
are discussing today. This bill was introduced to target criminal gangs, as that term is
commonly understood, and that is what it will do once enacted.
Keywords matched
immigration deportation