It’s a good first step. Via Eye on Boise:
Idaho 1st District GOP Rep. Raul Labrador announced today that he’s sponsoring legislation designed to “make our communities safer by making it easier to deport alien gang members.” Labrador is joining three other GOP House members to propose the bill, entitled the “Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act,” including House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. The bill proposes a piece of the larger Davis-Oliver Act, an immigration enforcement crackdown bill that Labrador earlier co-sponsored with Goodlatte, and which cleared the Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote on May 24.
Since then, two other bills containing provisions from the Davis-Oliver Act, “Kate’s Law,” which would increase penalties for deported felons who return to the U.S.; and the “No Sanctuary for Criminals Act,” which would target sanctuary cities, both have passed the House. Labrador, who in late June was named chairman of the House Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee, also has sponsored the “Refugee Program Integrity Restoration Act” to limit refugee resettlement; it cleared the Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote on June 28, but hasn’t advanced further. That measure now has 11 co-sponsors.
Labrador, in a statement sent out today by the Judiciary Committee Chairman Goodlatte, said, “Those who illegally enter our country and participate in criminal gangs need to be arrested and deported immediately. They should not be allowed to stay in our country to victimize innocent Americans.” He said he’s proud to join Goodlatte and Reps. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., and Peter King, R-N.Y., “in introducing today’s bill and I will work hard for its passage.”