:: Addressing the Gang Problem ::

An afternoon in the park. What is usually a scene of sunshine, serenity and a place of peace becomes a battleground for a gang initiation. A group of about twenty men stand around one man, beating him to the ground, where they kick him repeatedly as part of a gang ritual and leave him bleeding in the green grass. This scene was depicted in a police surveillance video of a gang initiation from Northern Virginia.

Today, drive-by shootings, brutal group beatings, rapes and machete attacks have become standard news reports stemming from gang crime. These gangs are no longer loosely-knit groups of unruly teens. A criminal gang today is a highly-organized structure, with ages ranging from elementary school to middle-age. They are trained in military techniques and their primary purpose is to commit illegal violent activities in furtherance of their gang organization. They are in our schools, on our streets, and in our communities.

According to the U.S. Justice Department, there are currently over 25,000 gangs and over 750,000 gang members who are active in more than 3,000 jurisdictions across the United States. And America’s gang epidemic is not just a crime problem, but an immigration problem as well. Testimony before the Judiciary Committee indicates that 60-85% of gang members may be illegal aliens.

In 2002, three alien gang members, who were allowed to remain in our country because of a loophole in our immigration system, were accused of raping two young deaf girls in a Massachusetts park. Prior to committing this crime, these gang members were allowed to remain here because of a provision called Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which makes them free from deportation even if they were here illegally. Under current law, TPS is denied to known terrorists and members of the communist party. I want to add ‘gang affiliation’ to that list as well.

Over the years that I have worked to address this problem, I have spent hours speaking with law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and even former gang members. I’ve traveled to national anti-gang summits, introduced multiple pieces of legislation including the ‘Gangbuster’ bill, and worked to bring federal funding for gang prevention to the Fourth District. Many good local projects have come about in cities like Petersburg, Virginia, to fight against the sources, problems and effects of violent gangs.

In all my experiences, I’ve been led to this conclusion: we must attack this problem at the source – by stopping the gang leaders and their networks and closing the immigration loopholes which allow them to stay in our country. Essentially, I want to send a message of common sense. We are going to stop gang members from illegally entering our country and terrorizing our communities. We realize that there is no socially redeeming value of being a member of a violent gang and that we must protect our citizens against these individuals.

Last week, Congress made progress towards a solution when the House of Representatives passed H.R. 6094, which included a bill I introduced, H.R. 2933, the Alien Gang Removal Act. My legislation would prohibit alien gang members from entering the United States through existing immigration loopholes and would allow for detention and deportation of gang members already within the country.

There’s no question, when you look at the gang problem, it’s a multifaceted problem. When you look at the illegal immigration problem, it too is multifaceted. But each step is a small victory. While both problems won’t be solved overnight, closing our borders to these criminals is beneficial on both fronts. And if we close our borders to these criminals, it’s the least we can do to protect precious lives in our communities, our commonwealth and our nation.

:: In Response ::

Recently, my office received a phone call from the Post Office serving the House of Representatives. “We’re trying,” they said, “but we’re not sure if we can deliver you all of your mail today.” Little did we know, we were about to receive the largest mail delivery we’ve ever received. That day, my office received over 3,000 survey responses from a recent mailer on illegal immigration, and more kept coming in the subsequent weeks.

This overwhelming response echoed my resolve on this issue. The answers were in tremendous support for important measures such as opposing amnesty, strengthening border control and having English as the first language of our citizens. And those who felt they needed more room to respond went to my website and wrote me an email.

If you did not receive the mailing, and would like to review it, I encourage you to click here. Please send me your thoughts by e-mail.

Additionally, if you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to review ‘A Case Study on Immigration.’ The case study provides many compelling facts on illegal immigration, the effects on our society and my views on the issue.

Thank you for your awareness on this issue and for sharing your thoughts with me.