Bill to facilitate eviction of criminals goes home

A bill that would redefine the crimes for which a person could be deported was approved Friday by the US House of Representatives, on a 247-152 vote and hailed by President Donald Trump.

"Under our horrific laws on immigration, the government is frequently prevented from deporting criminal aliens with violent convictions," Trump tweeted. He added that lawmakers "must send this bill to my office quickly!"

US Representative Karen Handel's proposal, R-Georgia, would close what supporters call a loophole in US law after the US Supreme Court ruled early this year that the current "crime of violence" test "was" unconstitutionally vague ".

"If we fail to solve this problem, our courts will be uncertain and may disrupt the prosecution of some violent crimes," Handel said in a statement.

The legislation defines the term as including intentional homicide, abduction attempts, obscene and lascivious acts on a child, sexual assault, assault on a police officer, trafficking in human beings, burglary and robbery. illegal possession of firearms.

This also includes "the use, attempted use or threat of use of physical force" against persons or property.

Critics of the bill say the process is hasty and unfairly broadens the definition of the criminal to allow expulsions to be expanded by a president who has already vowed to seal the nation's borders and drive out unwanted immigrants.

Opponents are the American Civil Liberties Union, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and the National Association of Defense Counsel.

US Representative Jerrold Nadler, D-New York, Member of the Judiciary Committee of the House, said in a statement that the bill "has serious implications in immigration law because a non-citizen convicted and the Nationality Act to include a "crime of violence" under this section is expelleable and would be denied the opportunity to apply for a discretionary exemption.

The law is now before the Senate.