EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – As congressional Democrats and Republicans brace for a looming federal budget fight, border House members have kept busy filing a slew of bills in the past week.
U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, on Thursday partnered with U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, to introduce legislation aimed at deporting undocumented immigrants convicted of sex crimes. The BE GONE Act (Better Enforcement of Grievous Offenses by [un]–Naturalized Emigrants) seeks to amend the Immigration and Naturalization Act to include sexual assault as an aggravated felony.
“We witnessed firsthand the consequences of the Biden administration tying the hands of our Border Patrol Agents and ignoring warnings from law enforcement that illegal aliens with violent criminal charges were entering our country,” Gonzales said. “If someone is here illegally, especially with a criminal conviction and a history of sexual violence, they must be deported immediately.”
The same lawmakers on Tuesday introduced the Felony Murder for Deadly Fentanyl Distribution Act in their respective chambers. It would allow prosecutors to file felony murder charges against dealers whose product kills the user. Current federal law provides a mandatory 20-year penalty for the act but doesn’t codify it as murder.
Gonzales represents a large swath of U.S.-Mexico border – from Eagle Pass, Texas, to El Paso.
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, represents most of El Paso. She introduced three bills in the House in the past few days. Those include a proposed minimum-wage increase to $17 an hour by 2030.
“No one should live in poverty, especially not in America, the world’s richest nation,” Escobar said. “Millions of Americans who work a minimum wage job should not have to live paycheck to paycheck and struggle to survive. They deserve the dignity of a wage that helps them provide for themselves and their families.”
Escobar also co-sponsored the reintroduction this week of the Medicare for All Act, which was previously presented in the House in 2023. The bill would expand Medicare, the federal government’s insurance for the elderly and the disabled and make it available to “every individual who is a resident of the United States.”
Similar bills have been filed — and failed to pass — under various names since 2003.
U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-New Mexico, introduced the M.H. “Dutch” Salmon Greater Gila Wild and Scenic River Act to protect the Gila River environment.
The bill preserves the free flow of and public access to 450 miles of the Gila and San Francisco rivers and their tributaries. It wouldn’t affect existing grazing and irrigation rights, Vasquez said in a statement.
Read: Read More