Rep. Laurel Lee Supports Bill to Keep Women Safe from Illegal Immigrants

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Laurel Lee’s (FL-15) released the following statement after the House passed H.R. 30, the Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act. This bill creates grounds for inadmissibility and removability for aliens convicted of, or admitting to, a second offense related to sexual assault or domestic violence. 

“For far too long, illegal immigrants have taken advantage of our open borders, threatening the safety of our communities. We have seen the tragic loss of life at the hands of criminal illegal immigrants who have been convicted or who have committed sex offenses or domestic violence. Enough is enough. Today, House Republicans reaffirmed our commitment to fight violence against women and to secure our nation from the chaos that has been occurring at our southern border,” said Rep. Laurel Lee. 

Summary:

• Creates grounds for inadmissibility and removability for aliens convicted of, who admit to committing, or who admit acts constituting sex offense or domestic violence.
• Closes a loophole in immigration law by adding inadmissibility for specific domestic violence-related offenses.
• In addition, the bill expands the current ground of inadmissibility for domestic violence by cross-referencing an existing statutory definition for “sex offenses.”
• Fixes a discrepancy in current immigration law by creating a ground of inadmissibility for domestic violence to mirror the existing ground of removability for the same offenses.
• Although many aliens can already be found inadmissible to and removable from the United States for certain sex offenses and domestic violence offenses, H.R. 30 expands and clarifies the conduct for which an alien can be found removable from the country.

Read the bill text here.

###