Representative Vern Buchanan (R-FL) is introducing legislation to immediately deport and prevent the reentry of illegal aliens involved in criminal gangs.
In addition to these provisions, the Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act denies illegal aliens found to be members of criminal gangs the right to asylum, temporary protected status (TPS), and special immigrant juvenile status, as current law cannot deport gang members until they commit an independent crime.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded over 17,000 arrests of aliens with criminal convictions in Fiscal Year 2024, while Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested just under 6,000 gang members in Fiscal Year 2018.
To an extent, Rep. Buchanan's bill builds upon the Laken Riley Act, which immediately deports illegal immigrants who have been arrested for shoplifting, assault against police officers, and crimes that result in death or serious bodily injury that President Donald Trump signed into law at the end of January.
In his press release, the Florida Congressman said, "Violent criminal illegals have no place in our country," condemning the Biden Administration's lax border policies for the deaths of Laken Riley, Jocelyn Nungaray, and other victims of illegal alien violent crime.
"If the Biden administration had been doing its job, Laken Riley, Jocelyn Nungaray, and countless others murdered by criminal illegals would still be alive. Congress needs to pass my Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act to make sure violent criminal illegals are immediately deported and never allowed to enter our country again," Buchanan declared.
Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua has been a prominent example of illegal alien gang activity in the United States in recent months, with members known to take over several apartment buildings in Aurora, Colorado.
"It's like an invasion from within, and we're going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country, and we're going to start with Springfield and Aurora," President Trump said on the campaign trail in October while also referencing the controversy surrounding Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio for supposedly eating pets.
