Posted on 06/29/2005 9:21:01 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Under legislation backed Tuesday by a Ventura County congressman, the Department of Homeland Security would be able to deport immigrants who have not been convicted of committing crimes, if they belong to a group the government has designated as a criminal gang.
Under the bill, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles or another district also could secretly designate new criminal street gangs, making immigrants in those groups eligible for deportation. Any group that the government decrees to be a gang could not challenge the designation for up to two years.
Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Thousand Oaks, a lead co-sponsor of the bill, said it would "help to reclaim our neighborhoods by allowing the United States to immediately deport gang members who are in the United States illegally."
And the bill's author, Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., said current laws that allow immigrants to be deported after being convicted of an aggravated felony aren't good enough.
"There are those who want us to wait until we have victims to do something about it," Forbes said at a House Judiciary Subcommittee debate on his bill.
Critics questioned the need and legality of the Forbes proposal.
"The idea that we could criminalize people who have never committed a crime in their life is quite staggering," said Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.
David Cole, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, said it "imposes guilt by association, resurrecting the worst of the McCarthy era."
The bill also would:
Block visas for anyone whom a consular office or the Homeland Security Department believes is a member of a criminal gang.
Prevent immigrants from questioning the validity of the gang designation in a deportation hearing.
Allow groups designated as gangs to seek a judicial review in U.S. District Court, although they could not provide new evidence.
Rep. Howard Berman, D-Van Nuys, said he wants the Justice Department to review the measure.
"I can't think of a group of people I would rather see removed from the country," he said about gang members. "I certainly agree with the goals, but I'd like to see what the Justice Department says about its constitutionality."
The dems wont go along with this.
ping
Gangs issuing ID cards?
Or drivers' licenses and Social Security cards?
ping
This is nothing but the Alien Act v2.0. The Alien Act was a horrifically bad idea that guaranteed abuse and so is this.
It's criminal that this isn't happening already.
In fact, it should be illegal to belong to a known criminal gang.
Public canings for belonging to a known criminal gang, illegal or citizen.
Public shame and public pain. It's not cruel, and if used, it won't be unusual.
What is the alternative? Call in a preemptive Warthog strike?
Your shirt's ugly. Goodbye.
There's bugs living in your ear. Goodbye.
You smell like ass and garlic. Goodbye.
Could someone file an amendment to the bill designating the Democrat Party as a criminal gang? :-)
Um, no. I think you may have inferred that illegal immigrants are the ones being talked about in the article. It just says immigrants, so I take it that would include legal ones as well.
Does this mean that some of those MS13 guys MIGHT be deported? You know, the ones who like to behead people? The open borders lobby will scream racism.
An Immigrant is a person who applies to come to this country under the quotas established for their country. They are here legally and are welcome.
An Illegal Immigrant is someone who skips the legal procedures and just comes into this country without regard to the amount of people who can be safely absorbed by society. They should not be here, deport them.
Um, no. I think you may have inferred that illegal immigrants are the ones being talked about in the article.
Um, no. I didn’t.
Legal immigrants in any nation are there at the discretion of the host country. Any host country should have the right to expel any non-citizen at anytime, just as I can kick anybody out of my house at anytime.
Just because they are an "immigrant" does not mean they aren't a citizen. You CAN achieve citizenship after moving in.
What part of illegal alien is not a crime? Conyers is an idiot.
If you're a citizen, you're in. If you're not a citizen, it should be our right to show you the door at any time.
IOW, status change from immigrant to citizen. Does the proposal say that citizens are going to be deported? I don't think so.
Bad argument.
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