Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn introduced legislation Tuesday that calls for the deportation of illegal migrants convicted of sexual offenses and better enables border states to control illegal immigration.
The senior U.S. senator from Tennessee introduced the “Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act and the Creating Obstructions Necessary to Address Illegal and Nefarious Entry Rapidly (CONTAINER) Act,” according to bill texts shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. The proposals coincide with a push by lawmakers from both parties for tougher immigration enforcement after the election of President Donald Trump.
“No illegal immigrant who commits an act of sexual violence against U.S. citizens should be allowed to enter or remain in our country,” Blackburn said of her legislation targeting illegal migrants involved in sexual crimes. “This legislation is common sense, and we need to keep dangerous individuals like the violent criminals who killed Laken Riley and Rachel Morin off our streets and out of our country.”
Should the bill be passed and signed into law, illegal migrants who have been convicted of, or have admitted to, sex offenses or domestic violence would be prohibited from entering the United States, and those already living in the U.S. would face repatriation. A House version of the legislation, introduced by South Carolina GOP Rep Nancy Mace, passed the lower chamber of Congress earlier in January.
“The woke Left loves to claim they’re the party for women, but while they continue to fail women, conservatives are stepping up to lead,” Mace said in a statement provided to the DCNF. “With President Trump back in the White House, the open-border saga is officially over, and this legislation is a big step toward putting Americans’ safety first. If you rape, molest or murder our women and girls, you need to be the first to go and never come back.”
The Container Act would authorize border states to temporarily establish portable structures on federal land to prevent illegal immigration without first needing to obtain federal approval, according to Blackburn’s office. The legislation would enable these state governments to keep the structures on federal land for up to a year under extensions approved by the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior.
“Under President Biden, Border Patrol encountered more than 10 million illegal immigrants at our southern border, turning every single state into a border state,” the senator said of the bill. “The Biden-Harris administration also exacerbated the problem by trying to stop the use of measures that help secure the border, including shipping containers and razor wire.”
“This legislation would give border states the explicit authority to protect their communities and help stop the flow of traffickers, drugs, and criminals at the southern border,” Blackburn continued.
Introduction of the two bills comes at a time when Democrats appear more accepting of tough-on-the-border policies. Just hours after Trump was sworn into office, the Senate passed the Laken Riley Act, which requires Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain illegal migrants involved in theft-related crimes in the U.S. That bill attracted 12 Democrats, many of them from swing states.
Trump, following through on his campaign pledge, rolled out a number of executive orders shortly after assuming office. The president’s orders have declared a national emergency at the border, designated cartels as terrorist organizations and sought to revoke birthright citizenship for those born to illegal migrant parents, among other proclamations.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include comment from GOP South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace.
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