House Judiciary Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee Vice-Chairman Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho) introduced the Michael Davis, Jr. and Danny Oliver in Honor of State and Local Law Enforcement Act (H.R. 2431) yesterday that would strengthen interior enforcement. The bill would protect and encourage jurisdictions to cooperate with ICE detainer requests and would target sanctuary jurisdictions by withholding federal grants.
The House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a markup of the bill on Thursday.
“The bill I’m introducing today, the Davis-Oliver Act, gives states and localities the authority to enforce federal immigration laws. We already entrust them with enforcing most categories of federal law, and immigration law should be no exception. The Davis-Oliver Act is a first and necessary step to modernize a broken immigration system. While other reforms are needed, my bill is vital to a long-term fix,” Rep. Labrador said in his press release.
The bill is named after Michael Davis, Jr. and Danny Oliver, two California deputy sheriffs who were murdered by illegal aliens.
Among other things, the bill:
· Removes the President’s ability to unilaterally shut down immigration enforcement.
· Strengthens ICE’s detainer authority by establishing probable cause standards to issue the detainers.
· Withholds certain DOJ and DHS grants from sanctuary jurisdictions that refuse to honor ICE detainer requests and prohibit their officers from communicating with ICE.
· Protects law enforcement officers from lawsuits for complying with ICE detainer requests.
· Allows ICE to not release criminal aliens into sanctuary jurisdictions and makes criminal gang members deportable.
· Provides expedited removal of alien terrorists and prohibits foreign terrorists or removable immigrants who threaten national security from receiving immigration benefits, including naturalization.
· Helps to prevent visa fraud by using advanced analytics software and requires USCIS to conduct fraud assessments and report to Congress.
· Requires DHS and the State Department to utilize social media and other public available information when determining if a visa applicant is a security threat to the U.S.
· Calls for the hiring of an additional 12,500 ICE officers.