145 House Dems vote against bill to deport migrants who commit sexual assault
158 Democrats voted against the bill last year
Published January 16, 2025 11:04am EST
More than 140 Democrats voted against a House bill to deport illegal immigrants convicted of sex crimes on Thursday.
The legislation passed along bipartisan lines in a 274 to 145 vote. All present Republicans supported the bill, while the opposition was all made up of Democratic lawmakers.
The bill was first introduced by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., in the 118th Congress but was not taken up by the formerly Democrat-controlled Senate. At the time, 158 Democrats voted against the bill.
“Our country has been ravaged by a horror of illegal immigrants…violently raping American women and girls,” Mace said during debate on the bill. “I know the lifelong scars, the irreversible scars, these heinous crimes leave behind.”
Elon Musk has notably been among the bill’s most ardent supporters, even calling for lawmakers who voted against it to lose their House seats.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is among the Democrats who voted against the bill.
“There is no excuse. Please post the list of people who opposed this law and want to keep illegals who are convicted sex offenders in America,” Musk wrote on X in response to a conservative influencer discussing the bill. “They all need to be voted out of office. Every one of them.”
In addition to deporting migrants convicted of sex crimes, the legislation would also deem illegal immigrants who admit to domestic violence or sex-related charges — or are convicted of them — to be inadmissible in the U.S.
But Democrats argued the bill would harm domestic abuse victims who fight back against their partner, and broadens the definition to domestic violence to the detriment of survivors.
