House Committee Would Criminalize Being Undocumented
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iStockphoto/Thinktsock(WASHINGTON) — While the Senate was working to amend the bipartisan immigration bill on the floor, the House Judiciary Committee was busy late Tuesday night passing its piecemeal approach to immigration overhaul.
The first step: making it a federal crime (misdemeanor) to be in the United States with undocumented status and repealing DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), better known as the DREAM Act, which provides temporary status to people brought to the United States as children and were younger than 31 as of June 15, 2012.
Similar amendments were passed last week as part of the 2014 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill, so the committee action was no surprise. But for a Republican Party that is trying to win back Latino voters, it could be trouble.
The committee approved the SAFE Act (Strengthen and Fortify Enforcement Act) by a vote of 20-15, making unlawful presence in United States a federal crime, as well as effectively killing the DREAM Act.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., are co-sponsors of the SAFE Act.
The SAFE Act has been compared to Arizona’s SB 1070 with a provision that allows states to enforce and enact their own immigration laws, as well as allowing state or local police “specific congressional authorization to assist in the enforcement of federal immigration law.”
The bill also makes it a crime to overstay a visa by as little as one day.
Protestors chanting “shame, shame, shame, stop the pain” and “Si, se puede” (“Yes, It Can Be Done”) caused a momentary pause in the committee at the beginning of the proceedings.
After they escorted protestors out of the room, Capitol police were asked to remove them from the hall because their chants were still “disruptive.”
After the initial disruption, additional members of the audience put on blue graduation caps and gowns.
Goodlatte recognized their attire, saying they are showing “us they are graduates of high school or college,” but added that “if you are intent upon staying and listening to this very important debate, you are welcome to stay,” but without protesting.
He said the legislation was necessary because “liberal courts give us no alternative if we want to allow state and local law enforcement to assist in the enforcement of our immigration laws.”
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa., said the need for the legislation was Obama’s fault.
“The president has defied the law…that’s a big reason why we are here today,” he said.
But Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said the legislation makes “being alive and breathing” in the United States a crime.
“I cannot support making mere presence a crime in America,” she said.
John Conyers, D-Mich., added, “This is not only a terrible proposal but an inhumane policy as well.”
Rep. Spencer Bachus, R.Ala., offered an amendment that would have delayed criminalization until 2015, thereby allowing time for immigration overhaul and the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants to be considered legal and thereby exempt.
But that failed even among the handful of GOPers — including Goodlatte and former House “Gang of 8″ member Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho — voting for the delay.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio