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More than 140 Democrats voted against a House bill Thursday to deport illegal immigrants convicted of sex crimes.
The legislation passed on a bipartisan vote of 274 to 145. All incumbent Republicans supported the bill, while opposition consisted of Democratic lawmakers.
The bill was first introduced by Rep. Nancy Mace, RS.C., in the 118th Congress, but was not taken up by the former Democratic-controlled Senate. at that time, 158 Democrats voted against the bill.
“Our country has been devastated by a horror of illegal immigrants … violently raping American women and girls,” Mace said during debate on the bill. “I know the lifelong scars, the irreversible scars, these heinous crimes leave behind.”
Elon Musk has notably been one of the bill’s most ardent supporters, even calling for lawmakers who voted against it to lose their seats in the House.
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House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is among the Democrats who voted against the bill. (Getty Images)
“There is no excuse. Please release the list of people who have opposed this law and want to keep convicted sex offenders illegal in the United States.” Musk wrote X in response to a conservative influencer discussing the bill. “They all need to be voted out of office. Every single one of them.”
In addition to deporting migrants convicted of sex crimes, the legislation would also consider illegal immigrants who plead guilty to—or are convicted of—domestic violence or sex-related charges as inadmissible to the U.S.
But Democrats argued that the bill would harm victims of domestic abuse who fight back against their partners and broaden the definition of domestic violence to the detriment of survivors.
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Rep. Nancy Mace, RS.C., first introduced the bill in the 118th Congress (Jemal Comtessa/Getty Images for the Congressional Integrity Project)
During debate on the bill Thursday morning, progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Washington, said the bill “does absolutely nothing to address the needs of the American people” and “paves the road to Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans.”
Jayapal said it would “create a chilling effect on reporting future crimes” and “empower abusers to go after immigrant women and children.”
Mace wrote to X during the bill’s debate: “The left justifying why they are against deporting r*p*s, im*rderer p*deophiles who are here ILLEGALLY never ceases to amaze me “.
Elon Musk backed the bill last year (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
House Majority Leader Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the third-ranking House Republican, also criticized Democrats who voted against the bill.
“House Democrats’ votes against HR 30 should be seen for what they are: prioritizing criminal illegal immigrants over the safety and well-being of their constituents. It is inconceivable that we should pass legislation like this , much less that the members oppose it.” Emmer told Fox News Digital.
Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, one of the Republicans who voted for the bill, argued that the Biden administration’s border policies made the bill necessary and said the legislation would “ensure that any immigrant illegal who commits a sex crime or a domestic violence crime will be promptly apprehended and deported.”
