Republicans Want To Deport Survivors Of Domestic Violence

Advocates say the bill will put domestic violence survivors who face false allegations from their abusers at greater risk of deportation.

By Jessica Washington, The Intercept

Members of Congress are once again using horrific acts of violence against women to lay the groundwork for President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan — this time with a bill that would put some domestic violence survivors at greater risk of deportation.

The Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act, also known as H.R. 30, passed the House with unanimous Republican and significant Democratic support last week and is set to be voted on in the Senate as soon as next week. On its face, the legislation makes it easier to deport domestic or sexual abusers, whether or not they have been convicted of a crime. In practice, advocates warn, it can be used against domestic violence survivors who face false allegations from their abusers.

The legislation was preceded by the passage of the Laken Riley Act, named after a nursing student who was killed by an immigrant who entered the country without authorization. The bill, which passed with bipartisan support, expanded the list of offenses that could lead to deportation — on the basis of criminal charges alone, rather than a conviction — and gave new sweeping enforcement powers to state attorneys general.

While delivering a speech in defense of H.R. 30 on the House floor, lead sponsor Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., argued that the legislation was necessary to protect women and children from a “hoard” of undocumented immigrants sexually abusing “American” women and girls.

“I rise today to demonize, as the word was used on the left across the aisle, to demonize illegal immigrants who are here raping our women and girls, murdering our women and girls, and who are pedophiles, molesting our children,” said Mace. “Our country has been ravaged by a hoard of illegal aliens molesting American children, battering, and bruising and beating up American women, and violently raping American women and girls.”