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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | April 16, 2024 10:58 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Jim Rigby |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Illegal Immigration |
| In the near future, I intend to introduce a bill that will require a prosecutor to notify United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if the prosecutor has a reasonable basis to believe that a defendant in a criminal matter is an illegal immigrant. Under current law, prosecutors are not required to notify ICE that a criminal defendant is residing in this country in violation of Federal immigration laws. As a result, certain progressive prosecutors, including Philadelphia’s District Attorney Larry Krasner, have adopted illegal immigration sanctuary policies that are, in effect, a dereliction of their duty to uphold and enforce the law. Individuals who have not only entered the United States in violation of Federal immigration laws but have committed crimes while unlawfully residing in this country, should not be released back into our communities without any oversight or accountability. The recent surge in unlawful migration has played a significant role in several developing crises throughout the United States and this Commonwealth, including the rise in both drug addiction and violent crime. In 2023, the number of overdose deaths exceeded 112,000 in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this figure marks the highest 12-month overdose death total in history. A 2021 report published by the Department of Justice noted that 64% of all federal arrests in 2018 involved non-US citizens although they represented only 7% of the total United States’ population at that time. Our country has recently witnessed a rash of high-profile, violent crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. Within the course of several months last year, a Mexican national was arrested by police after being accused of drugging and raping at least ten boys in Tennessee; a Mexican national was arrested and charged with brutally murdering an entire family of Honduran migrants near Houston, Texas; and six undocumented immigrants – three of whom were members of the violent Central American MS-13 gang – were charged with the murder of a boy in Maryland. In this Commonwealth, a Brazilian national and undocumented immigrant made national headlines after escaping from a prison where he was serving a life sentence for killing his girlfriend in front of her small children and leading police on a colossal manhunt. Please join me in cosponsoring this important piece of legislation to better protect our Commonwealth. |
Introduced as HB2228