The House voted Thursday to allow the deportation of immigrants who are suspected of gang activity, The Hill reported.
The bill, called the Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act, passed mostly along part lines 233-175. Almost a dozen Democrats voted for the measure, joining with every Republican, but Libertarian Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., who was the only member of the GOP to oppose it.
"It will ensure that when ICE positively identifies a known alien gang member, they may act immediately," Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., the bill's lead sponsor, said, according to the Hill. "We don't have to wait until these brutal killers wield their machetes or leave another body on a children's playground."
Critics of the bill argue the legislation would allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to bypass due process.
"The bill broadly overreaches and puts Americans and immigrants at risk of being unjustly profiled," said Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairwoman Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., according to the Hill.
"We all support efforts to make our cities and neighborhoods safer, including a crackdown on gang violence. But this legislation infringes on constitutional protections, and is irresponsible and dangerous."
Rep. Luis Gutiérrez, D-Ill., accused Republicans of attempting to turn immigrants into scapegoats.
"Hundreds of thousands of doctors, teachers, nurses and soldiers are going to be yanked from the American economy if Speaker [Paul] Ryan [R-Wis.] does not allow the DREAM Act to go forward in the next few weeks, but his priority is feeding red meat to the anti-immigration wing of his party and satisfying them with a big helping of 'let's label Latino youth as machete-wielding menaces,'" he said.
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