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House Republicans, including Hispanic Rep, push bill to prioritize funds for victims of illegals

November 5, 2022 | | Print Article

Three House Republicans, one of whom is Hispanic, introduced a bill on Thursday that would require that states prioritize looking out for the victims of illegal alien crime.

Called the “Justice for Victims of Open Borders Act,” the bill by Reps. Mayra Flores, Virginia Foxx, and Greg Steube would accomplish this by changing the rules undergirding the grant disbursements that are made via the 1984 Victims of Crime Act.

“That legislation created a Crime Victims Fund which provides funding to state and local programs and services to focus on helping crime victims rebuild their lives,” according to Fox News.

The rewrite would mandate that every state-level attorney general “certify with the Department of Justice and the Attorney General that their respective state gives priority to victims of crimes committed by people ‘who do not have lawful status in the United States,'” according to a press release from Flores’ office.

The bill would also “[r]equire states to consolidate crime data to create an accurate system of reporting” and thus “[y]ield more transparency to the American people through the public accounting of crimes committed by illegal aliens in the United States,” according to the press release.

“It’s important that victims of crime, committed by illegal immigrants, know that state and federal resources are with them in their time of need. I want victims to concentrate and prioritize their recovery and I thank my colleagues for helping me tackle this issue head-on,” Flores said in a statement.

“The Biden administration’s cataclysmic failures at our nation’s southern border have led to a sizable surge in violent crime that puts every American and their families at risk. It’s evident that President Biden is unwilling to address this issue, so we’re taking a stand,” Foxx added.

“I am immensely pleased to have two stalwart Republican leaders, Representative Mayra Flores, and Representative Greg Steube, co-lead this vital legislation. Their commitment to upholding law and order, and to protect every American citizen, is highly commendable,” she continued.

Steube meanwhile issued a statement noting that the bill, seen below, is necessary “for the safety of our nation and its citizens.”

The trio of Republicans introduced the bill only days after a reported illegal alien suspect, David DePape, assaulted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband at their home.

“The Department of Homeland Security confirmed on Thursday that DePape entered the U.S. legally across the U.S.-Mexican border on a visitors visa in 2008 via the U.S.-Mexican border. He had come in across on a B2 visa, which typically allows Canadian visitors to stay for six months. He then overstayed that visa,” Fox News notes.

It’s not clear whether Pelosi’s husband would be eligible for relief under the “Justice for Victims of Open Borders Act.”

Flores and her peers likewise introduced the bill exactly a week after an illegal alien burglarized Arizona Democrat gubernatorial nominee Katie Hobbs’ campaign office.

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed … that 36-year-old Daniel Mota Dos Reis is a citizen of Portugal who came to the U.S. as a registered student in 2018 and is now violating ‘the terms of his admission,'” Fox News notes.

“An ICE spokesperson said Mota is ‘currently at-large for administrative immigration violations for failing to maintain his status as a registered student at an academic institution,'” according to Fox News.

The point is that illegal alien crime is a serious phenomenon that plays out across this country on a near-daily basis.

Indeed, “almost half of all of the criminals prosecuted in federal courts in 2018 were aliens, charged with crimes ranging from drug trafficking to murder to kidnapping,” according to a report filed late last year by The Heritage Foundation.

“While a small number of those over 41,000 criminals were in this country legally, the vast majority—38,000—were illegal aliens. Compare this to 1998, when there were only a little over 18,000 aliens prosecuted in federal courts,” the report continued.

Another report, this one filed by Fox News this past January, revealed that illegal alien crime “surged in fiscal year 2021 after declining in the years” prior.

“Homicides, assaults, incidents of domestic violence, illegal weapons possession, and sexual offenses committed by illegal aliens all increased dramatically in fiscal year 2021 compared to fiscal year 2020, data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows,” the report reads.

“Illegal immigrants committed 1,178 assault and domestic violence crimes in 2021, which represents a more than 400% increase from the 208 in 2020. Sixty homicide or manslaughter convictions were attributed to illegal immigrants in 2021, a 1,900% increase from the previous year,” it continues.

Vivek Saxena
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