Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Tom McClintock Representing the 4th District of California
Washington, D.C. – HR 175, the Deport Alien Gang Members Act, has passed the House Judiciary Committee. The legislation, authored by Congressman McClintock, next goes to the House floor.
Congressman McClintock delivered remarks in support of the legislation during the Judiciary Committee hearing:
Statement on HR 175
Video Link
June 3, 2026,
Mr. Chairman,
During the Biden Administration, the Democrats opened our borders to the largest illegal mass migration in history. This included some of the most violent criminal gangs and cartels in history, which quickly established themselves in our communities and began a reign of crime that included human trafficking, drug trafficking, vehicular manslaughter, extortion, burglary, robbery, assault and murder. Today, an estimated 10,000 MS-13 gang members are loose in our country. Tren de Aragua is active in at least 19 states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, as well as in Washington, D.C. The Sheriff of Tulare County, California testified that the Sinaloa Cartel now operates throughout the state of California, including extensive drug and human trafficking, extortion and even organized execution squads. He estimates that half the crime he deals with in his rural county involved illegal aliens, many serving organized criminal gangs.
The toll of this deliberate policy of the Democrats mounts with every news cycle.
Despite this carnage, there is no specific provision in law to allow authorities to immediately deport members or accomplices of these criminal gangs and to summarily deny them immigration benefits and admission based on their involvement with these criminal organizations. This bill fills that gap in our nation’s defenses.
It creates clear grounds of inadmissibility and deportability for aliens who are members of criminal gangs or who have promoted, aided, conspired with, or participated in gang activities. It provides immigration authorities with the tools necessary to act before these individuals commit additional crimes on American soil rather than waiting until innocent Americans suffer the consequences.
This legislation also establishes a clear statutory definition of a criminal gang. The offenses covered under that definition are not minor infractions. They include drug trafficking, firearms offenses, crimes of violence, human trafficking, identity theft, money laundering, alien smuggling, and other serious criminal conduct. These are the very activities that fuel organized criminal enterprises and threaten public safety throughout the nation.
This bill also requires the detention of gang-affiliated aliens during removal proceedings. This provision reflects a simple reality. Individuals who have demonstrated allegiance to criminal organizations represent a substantial public safety risk and should not be released into our communities while their immigration cases are pending.
It closes loopholes that allow gang members to obtain immigration benefits that were never intended to protect violent criminals. Under this legislation, gang members would be ineligible for asylum, temporary protected status, special immigrant juvenile status, and various other forms of immigration relief. These humanitarian protections were created to assist vulnerable individuals fleeing persecution or hardship; not to provide safe haven for members of organized criminal enterprises.
We have often heard the Democrats argue that existing law is sufficient. If that were true, we would not continue to see criminal gangs of illegal aliens operating in American communities from coast to coast, would we? We would not see local law enforcement agencies struggling with gang-related violence from people with no legal right to be here. We would not see repeated instances in which dangerous individuals evade removal despite clear evidence of gang affiliation.
The President put a simple question to members of Congress during his state of the Union message: Stand if you believe the United States Government should put the needs of American citizens ahead of illegal aliens. Not a single Democrat stood up. They keep telling us that they support removing dangerous criminal illegal aliens from our country while they do everything they possibly can to keep them here, including storming detention facilities, assaulting law enforcement officers and defending sanctuary laws that are specifically designed to keep criminal illegal aliens IN our communities when the law requires they be removed.
So here is yet another chance for the Democrats to join us in requiring the removal of criminal gang members and their accomplices from our country immediately and automatically.
This restores clarity to the law, strengthens public safety, and reinforces the principle that the United States will not serve as a sanctuary for foreign criminal organizations.
I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back.
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