With GOP control of Congress the task of regaining immigration control is much easier. The Judiciary Committees of the US House and Senate both oversee appointments and regulations related to border control. In the past few years the Chairmen of both of these Committees have grown more aware of the problem of illegal immigration and seem to be willing to step into a role of enacting new policies, overseeing departments and overseeing decisions by Obama Administration personnel. This week Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced a bill to reform the H-1B visa system to guarantee more jobs for Americans. Grassley also operates a "Whistleblower" section for constituents to complain about waste, fraud or abuse in government programs.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, Chairman of the US House Judiciary Committee, has become more outspoken concerning illegal immigration. Following Mondays Fifth Circuit Court ruling against Obama DACA plan Goodlatte said, "Today's decision from the federal appeals court is a victory for the Constitution and the American people. President Obama's decision to ignore the limits placed on his power and act unilaterally to rewrite our nation's immigration laws is an affront to the Constitution."

Here is a list of the duties of the Senate Judiciary Committee:

  • Apportionment of Representatives
  • Bankruptcy, mutiny, espionage, and counterfeiting
  • Civil liberties
  • Constitutional amendments
  • Federal courts and judges
  • Government information
  • Holidays and celebrations
  • Immigration and naturalization
  • Interstate compacts generally
  • Judicial proceedings, civil and criminal, generally
  • Local courts in territories and possessions
  • Measures relating to claims against the United States
  • National penitentiaries
  • Patent Office
  • Patents, copyrights, and trademarks
  • Protection of trade and commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies
  • Revision and codification of the statutes of the United States
  • State and territorial boundary lines


Many of the duties overlap in the House Judiciary Committee:
Committee Jurisdiction

  1. The judiciary and judicial proceedings, civil and criminal.
  2. Administrative practice and procedure.
  3. Apportionment of Representatives.
  4. Bankruptcy, mutiny, espionage, and counterfeiting.
  5. Civil liberties.
  6. Constitutional amendments.
  7. Criminal law enforcement.
  8. Federal courts and judges, and local courts in the Territories and possessions.
  9. Immigration policy and non-border enforcement.
  10. Interstate compacts generally.
  11. Claims against the United States.
  12. Members of Congress, attendance of members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner; and their acceptance of incompatible offices.
  13. National penitentiaries.
  14. Patents, the Patent and Trademark Office, copyrights, and trademarks.
  15. Presidential succession.
  16. Protection of trade and commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies.
  17. Revision and codification of the Statutes of the United States.
  18. State and territorial boundary lines.
  19. Subversive activities affecting the internal security of the United States.

Subcommittees of the House Judiciary Committee include : Immigration and Border Security---Chair Trey Gowdy;Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations--Chair Michael McCaul.

While the Obama Administration claims to focus on deporting the most violent felony criminals, it is appearing to ignore clear directives that place many immigrants (legal or illegal) in automatic deportation standing. Congress directed that certain classes of crime would required automatic deportation: 1. Aggravated felonies and 2. Crimes of moral turpitude.

Under immigration law if a crime is not considered a felony at the state level it still may be considered a felony under federal law, giving the Department of Homeland Security broader authority to deport individuals. These include:

  • a crime of violence for which the term of imprisonment is at least 1 year;
  • a theft offense (including receipt of stolen property) or burglary offense for which the term of imprisonment is at least one year;
  • illicit trafficking in drugs, firearms, destructive devices, or explosive materials;
  • an offense that involves fraud or deceit in which the loss to the victim or victims exceeds $10,000;
  • offenses related to alien smuggling (though some exceptions apply); and
  • murder, rape, or sexual abuse of a minor.

It is also an aggravated felony to attempt or conspire to commit an aggravated felony. Possession of "controlled substances" even if considered minor crimes under a state law still become aggravated felonies in immigration law.
Aggravated felons, even if legal residents, lose a large number of immigration rights:
1. Ineligible to stop deportation. Many other deportable offenses allow a non-citizen to be able to apply for "waivers", or exceptions, to deportation. But no exceptions are available to aggravated felons.
2. Unable to apply for other legal immigration status. Many persons with other violations, including some criminal violations that make them deportable, remain eligible to apply for asylum, lawful permanent residence (green card), and other routes to legal status spelled out in the INA if they meet other qualifications. Aggravated felons are disqualified from almost every provision of the law that would enable them to legalize their status or to retain existing legal status, such as a green card.
3. Guaranteed to be detained. Aggravated felons, in addition to several other types of non-citizens, fall within the INA's "mandatory detention" provisions. This means that most will be detained until DHS is able to effect their deportation.
4. Less access to immigration court. For the most part, non-citizens can only be deported after an Immigration Judge conducts a hearing and signs an "order of removal (deportation)". However, the INA allows DHS to deport aggravated felons who are not green card holders "administratively", that is, within the agency without having to take the case before an Immigration Judge.
5. Less access to federal appeals courts. Aggravated felons are among a group of deportable non-citizens who have fewer legal rights to request a federal judge hear their case on appeal.
6. Permanent ejection from the US. Most non-citizens who are deported from the US are not eligible to apply to return legally to the country for a period of from five to 20 years depending on their circumstances. But aggravated felons are permanently disqualified from ever returning to the US for any reason.

Crimes of moral turpitude are a second category whereby immigrants may be automatically deported. Moral turpitude, as a rule of thumb, is considered conduct that the average reasonable person would not engage in. According to the federal immigration courts, a CIMT is defined as a crime that is "inherently base, vile, or depraved, and contrary to accepted rules of morality and the duties owed between persons or to society in general."

  • Crimes against the person:
    - Involving moral turpitude: murder; voluntary or reckless manslaughter, kidnapping, attempted murder and assault with intent to rob or kill or to commit abortion or rape
    - Immigration law also considers the following offenses against the person as CIMTs:
    Domestic violence; stalking; child abuse; child neglect; child abandonment and violation of a protection order against credible threats of violence, repeated harassment or bodily injury
  • Sexual offenses:
    - Involving moral turpitude: rape, whether common law or statutory; adultery; bigamy; prostitution; lewdness; sodomy; abortion; gross indecency and possession of child pornography
  • Crimes against property:
    - Burglary is a CIMT only if the intended offense involves moral turpitude, since unlawful entry and remaining unlawfully on a property by themselves are not CIMTs. Breaking and entering also is not a CIMT. However, breaking and entering to commit larceny is.
    - If the underlying offense is a CIMT, then a conviction for aiding in the commission of the crime or acting as an accessory before the fact is also a CIMT.
    - A theft offense (including receipt of stolen property), which may be both a CIMT and an aggravated felony, includes aiding and abetting the theft offense.
    - Trafficking in counterfeit goods is a CIMT.
  • Crimes against the government:
    - Involving moral turpitude: counterfeiting, perjury, willful tax evasion, bribery, using mails to defraud, misprision of a felony, harboring a fugitive, conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, making false statements to avoid being drafted and draft evasion
  • Crimes involving fraud:
    - Any crime involving fraud is almost always a crime of moral turpitude, whether against government or individuals, except for false statements not amounting to perjury.
    - Involving moral turpitude: making false statements to obtain a passport or for naturalization, making false statements to obtain a driver’s license, making a false statement on a firearm application, passing bad checks, false representation of a Social Security number, money laundering, and conspiracy to affect a public market in securities
    -Various other crimes involving moral turpitude:Assault(but not simple assault): Bank fraud and embezzlement; Burglary: Child abuse;. Contributing to the delinquency of a minor is generally not a CIMT but has held to have been in at least one court. Disorderly conduct; Domestic violence is a CIMT and is considered a federal crime of violence. driving under the influence on a suspended license;False statements to a U.S. Official; Some perjury; Prostitution; Receiving stolen goods;robbery; many sex offenses. Theft is generally a CIMT.



Enforcement, such as the current policy, that only focuses on "the most violent felons" ignores the fact that Congress has mandated that immigrants convicted of these other acts are automatically supposed to be deported. It is not supposed to be optional. If it is clear that there has been a conviction in these categories an immigration judge does not have latitude to go easy on the immigrant, even with legal status.

I would take time to address the Congressional Judicary Committees that they have the obligation to carry out the determination made by Congress to employ strict application of these standards. It seems that in some cases, such as in sex trafficking rings, that some persons are being treated as victims, when the law would include them in one of these categories. County halth departments, as another example, are seeing caes of domestic abuse yet taking no action to alert authorities who then should work in cooperation with immigration authorities.

Comments to Chairman Bob Goodlatte of the House Judiciary Committee can be made to 202-225-3951. I think we should be demanding that these standards be followed, since it appears that Congress intended them to be mandatory. Comments to Sen. Chuck Grassley, Senate Judicary Chair can be made to: 202-224-5225. The Whistleblower email address is :whistleblower@judiciary-rep.senate.gov

If an issue directly affects national security (such as cartel organization or terror cells) comments can be sent to: homeland.security@mail.house.gov