Exclusive | 15,000 illegal migrants convicted of sex assault are roaming US — and a new bill would force ICE to hunt them down and deport them
Published Oct. 1, 2024, 6:00 a.m. ET
More than 15,000 illegal immigrants with sexual assault convictions are currently roaming the US. And a new Republican-backed bill would force ICE to track them down and deport them.
The bill — titled the “Be Gone Act” — comes after the acting chief Immigration and Customs Enforcement revealed to Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales last week that the US has more than 600,000 migrants with criminal convictions.
The figure includes both those who were allowed in despite committing crimes in their home countries, and migrants who were convicted here.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) introduced the bill Tuesday to expedite the deportations of illegal migrants convicted of sexual assault and aggravated sexual violence, according to the text of the bill, which was first obtained by The Post.
“These violent criminals never would have entered America in the first place if we had real border security, but now that they’re in our communities, they need to BE GONE,” said Ernst in a statement shared with The Post.
“Since Border Czar Kamala Harris won’t protect this country, then I will. My legislation will combat sexual violence by ensuring predators are identified, stopped, and deported,” she added.
It is not clear how many of the 15,000 convicted migrants entered the US under the Biden-Harris administration, when illegal border crossings hit record levels and the feds were forced to release unprecedented numbers of them into the US with little or no vetting.
It is also unknown how many of the convicts are in the custody of another law enforcement agency or how many are on the streets.
More than 8,000 of the roughly 37,000 migrants currently in ICE detention are convicted criminals, according to federal data.
They are often held pending the outcome of appeals and other immigration court process. Or, in the case of Venezuelans and others, they are held because their home countries don’t currently accept deportation flights.
Meanwhile, ICE says a major hindrance to its efforts to detain illegal migrants convicted of crimes has been sanctuary laws preventing local jurisdictions from communicating with the agency’s officers.
“ICE recognizes that some jurisdictions are concerned that cooperating with federal immigration officials will erode trust with immigrant communities and make it harder for local law enforcement to serve those populations,” ICE acting director Patrick Lechleitner wrote to Gonzales.
“However, ‘sanctuary’ policies can end up shielding dangerous criminals, who often victimize those same communities.”