Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, it has been said about this body that if you invent a nice enough title for a bill, it doesn't matter what you write in the bill because all people know is what the title is. This bill is a good example of that.

Who is in favor of criminal alien gangs? No one. But this bill has received no committee consideration in which the questions could have been asked and the answers given to make sure that the bill would do what its sponsors say it does.

But this legislation wouldn't provide decent protections against gang violence. It would shred due process protections and would allow deportation of innocent immigrants based on the flimsiest of evidence.

It would establish a Star Chamber-like process for designating criminal gangs that would provide virtually no opportunity for them to contest such a designation. Once a group is designated as a gang, an immigrant who is determined to be a member of that gang--determined under undefined procedures and standards--would be almost assured of being deported and would be subject to mandatory detention while awaiting removal.

The procedures under this bill would be laughable if they did not have such deadly consequences for so many innocent people. Suppose there are some people in my neighborhood that I think are up to no good. Maybe I have good evidence that they are committing crimes, or maybe I just don't like them. Either way, I submit a tip to Homeland Security that the group is engaged in activity that qualifies as a criminal gang under this bill.

Then, based on undefined and unknown procedures, the DHS can designate that group as a criminal gang. In doing so, it would amass some sort of administrative record, which is also completely undefined in the bill, but we know it can include secret evidence. No notice would be given to the group that is under review, and no opportunity would be given to present evidence contesting the designation; no exculpatory evidence.

After designation, there is a process for judicial review; but unless the group has the habit of scouring the Federal Register, it would have no idea that it has been labeled a gang and that it needs to go to court in 30 days. If, somehow, the group does learn of its designation, it has just 30 days to contest it, and only in a Federal Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.

That review, however, would be based entirely on the administrative record amassed by the government. The group would have no opportunity to submit evidence to rebut the designation, which renders the entire review process meaningless. That is not due process under the Constitution. That is a sort of stacked process you would expect in a banana republic or in Russia.

It gets even worse. Under this bill, any alien is deportable if he or she is or has been a member of a designated gang or has participated in the gang's activities, knowing that would further its illegal activity.

But who determines that a person is a member of a gang? By what procedure? In what forum or what court? Using what standard? The bill, given the Goodlatte amendment, does not say.

A person need not have been convicted or even charged with a crime to be deportable under this bill; and even when they are in removal proceedings, they would not be permitted to challenge the gang designation that landed them in those proceedings. Thus, we will have people deported on the basis of an unfair and secret process, with no notice and no meaningful opportunity to contest the basis for the deportation. That turns due process completely on its head.

Keeping out members of MS-13 and other deadly gangs is a worthy goal, but this bill would not do that. It would have disastrous consequences for thousands of people each year who may or may not be members of a gang, who may or may not have any evidence against them, who will inevitably be caught up in its hash and overbroad provisions.

Mr. Speaker, just last week, President Trump upended the lives of 800,000 DREAMers who now face the possibility of being dragged away from the only country they know. Our highest priority should be providing these young, undocumented Americans the legal status they need to continue serving our Nation and being productive members of their communities.

I notice that the Speaker has said that, while he supports relief for the DREAMers, that the bill has to go through a committee. Why didn't this bill have to go through a committee? Instead, the Republican majority seeks to distract us from the plight of the DREAMers by returning to its mass deportation agenda based on the fear and dehumanization of immigrants.

This bill brings shame upon this House and this Nation's tradition of due process and fundamental fairness.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to reject this unconstitutional and unconscionable legislation.

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