On May 11, the House passed a bill with troubling immigration related provisions known as the Gang Deterrence and Community Protection Act of 2005 (H.R. 1279). Among other things, the bill would expand the definition of 'crime of violence' and as a result, the definition of an 'aggravated felony' in the immigration code.

Expanding the already broad aggravated felony definition means that more immigrants(even long term permanent residents) can be detained without bond and deported. The bill also increases the penalty for undocumented individuals who are involved in 'crime of violence' and 'drug trafficking' offenses. Finally, the bill authorizes the Department of Homeland Security to input the names of potentially millions of civil immigration violators into the National Crime and Information Center (NCIC) database.

In the Senate, Senator Feinstein has introduced the Gang Prevention and Effective Deterrence Act of 2005 (S. 155). While the Senate bill does not currently contain the troubling provisions described above, we remain concerned that Senators could add these provisions when the bill is marked up or conferenced.

New! Forum's Analysis on the Gang Bill:
http://immigrationforum.org/documents/PolicyWire/Legislation/GangBillAnalysis.pdf

New! Forum's Web Page on the Gang Bill: This page includes links to the bill text, and

advocacy materials.

http://immigrationforum.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=738

ACTION: The American Immigration Lawyers Association has a great action alert:

http://capwiz.com/aila2/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=7641051.

National Immigration Forum
www.immigrationforum.org