EXCLUSIVE: Bicameral lawmakers are putting forward a bill Wednesday to strengthen penalties against illegal immigrants convicted of sex crimes.
The Better Enforcement of Grievous Offenses by Unnaturalized Emigrants (BE GONE) Act will codify key parts of President Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance” border crackdown.
It is also timed in recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, according to the bill’s sponsors: Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas.
In September, Gonzales’ office obtained data from ICE showing 15,811 illegal immigrants on their “non-detained docket” have sexual assault convictions, out of 425,431 convicted criminals on the list overall.
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The BE GONE Act formally expands the definition of “aggravated felonies” under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, also known as Title 8 – which consolidated several immigration provisions prior to the Eisenhower administration into one comprehensive U.S. code, set visa quotas, and exempted certain family members of Americans from some immigration restrictions.
“President Trump and his team have hit the ground running, reversing the damage from the last four years, but we must ensure that every last sexual predator let in by Joe Biden is deported,” Ernst told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.
“The health and safety of our citizens must always come first, and I am proud to continue working with President Trump to protect the American people,” she added.
“These violent, criminal illegal aliens need to BE GONE!”
Gonzales, who represents the largest Mexican-border district in the House, said the illegal immigration epicenters of Eagle Pass and Del Rio are both in his jurisdiction.
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He told Fox News his district witnessed pre-Trump “tying [of] the hands of our Border Patrol agents and ignoring warnings from law enforcement that illegal aliens with violent criminal charges were entering our country.”
“Thousands of these criminal illegal aliens had a sexual violence charge on their record.”
Gonzales added that the BE GONE Act would give Homeland Security officers more tools to identify and deport sexually violent illegal immigrants.
“I look forward to joining forces with my colleagues in the House and Senator Joni Ernst to move this critical legislation across the finish line,” he said.
The bill also received support from “sensible immigration” group NumbersUSA.
“This is common sense legislation, following up on the Laken Riley Act, that Congress passed this year to protect Americans from criminal illegal aliens,” Michael Hough, its director of federal affairs, said.
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Joe Chatham, an official at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, added that Congress should pass the change to Title 8 swiftly.
“FAIR is proud to support the BE GONE Act and protecting American communities from illegal alien crime,” said Chatham.
“Under the Biden administration’s policies, tens of thousands of criminal aliens were apprehended attempting to enter illegally, with shocking data last year showing that there were at least 16,320 aliens in the U.S. convicted of sexual assault.”
Co-sponsor Ernst also notably spearheaded Sarah’s Law — signed by Trump earlier this year.
That bill was named for Sarah Root, who was killed by an illegal immigrant in 2016, and for whose family Ernst fought for nearly a decade to get justice.
