Rep. Scholten once again votes with the GOP to criminalize immigrants and put them at risk of deportation

Last week, I noted that Rep. Hillary Scholten’s rhetoric on US immigration policy was different than her voting record. One clear example earlier this month is when Rep. Scholten voted with the Republicans to pass the Laken Riley Act, which is an awful policy that will further criminalize immigrants.

Rep. Scholten commented in her most recent weekly Email message with a comment about immigration: 

As a nation, we have a right to enforce our borders and our immigration laws. HOW we do it matters. ICE is required to follow the law, and discrimination and racial profiling are still illegal. Here in West Michigan, we have seen the harmful and disastrous impact that reckless enforcement can have on our citizens and even our veterans. I’ve stood up to it before, and I’m prepared to do it again.

Note that Rep. Scholten leads with the emphasis on enforcement of US borders and laws, but says nothing about the Trump Administration’s threat to engage in mass deportation. 

After voting for the awful Laken Riley Act, Rep. Scholten then votes for the Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act, H.R. 30. Republicans were claiming that the Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act would protect women and children. Republican Rep. Nancy Mace from South Carolina argued that the legislation was necessary to protect women and children from a “hoard” of undocumented immigrants sexually abusing “American” women and girls.

In response to H.R. 30, at least 200 organizations that fight against domestic violence have condemned the legislation and are saying that the Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act will make it easier to deport survivors who get caught up in the criminal legal and child welfare systems as a result of the abuse they suffered.

In a recent article from the Intercepted, it states: 

The bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to broaden the definition of certain crimes related to sexual and domestic violence offenses, altering the standards for whether someone is “inadmissible” — ineligible for a visa or permanent status in the U.S. — or deportable. The bill imports a definition of domestic violence and other related offenses from the 2022 Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act that was intended to expand access to grant funding to help survivors, not to be used in the context of immigration enforcement. Survivors acting in self-defense, or who are falsely accused of one of these actions, may be deportable or inadmissible, regardless of whether they have been convicted of a crime. 

 Once again, Rep. Hillary Scholten has not only voted with Republicans, she has voted for legislation that will further criminalize immigrants. It is high time people come to terms with the fact that, Rep. Hillary Scholten has voted for two pieces of legislation over the past few weeks that will assist the Trump Administration in their campaign to engage in mass deportation. Rep. Scholten is NOT an ally in the fight for immigration justice.