Scott Champions Legislation to Deport Illegal Migrants with DUIs, Protect American Citizens

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) joined Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and 11 of their Senate colleagues in introducing the Protect Our Communities From DUIs Act, which prevents illegal migrants who have committed a Driving Under the Influence (DUI) offense from entering the U.S. and automatically deports illegal migrants who commit DUI within the United States.

Currently, DUIs are not included on the list of crimes that trigger an automatic deportation of illegal immigrants. President Biden has said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents should “only arrest for the purpose of dealing with a felony that’s been committed, and I do not count drunk driving as a felony.”

“President Biden’s willful act to protect illegal immigrants who break the law over American citizens is a disgrace,” said Senator Scott. “As migrant crime spikes, this bill allows law enforcement to keep our streets and civilians safe. It is time Congress comes together to put the American people, and the safety of our communities, above all else.” 

The legislation is co-sponsored by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W. Va.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Deb Fisher (R-Neb.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).

The full text of the Protect Our Communities From DUIs Act can be found here.

BACKGROUND

Senator Scott has pushed back against the Biden administration’s dangerous open border policies and fought to protect Americans by:

• Visiting the U.S.-Mexico border to discuss the illegal immigration crisis with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and federal officials;
• Championing the Creating Obstructions Necessary to Address Illegal and Nefarious Entry Rapidly (CONTAINER) Act, which empowers border states to place temporary barriers on federal land in order to protect their communities;
• Advocating for the Keep Our Border Agents Paid Act, which ensures U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and contractors continue to be paid in the event of a shutdown as President Biden’s southern border crisis continues to spiral out of control;
• Fighting for the Secure the Border Act of 2023 to address the Biden administration’s open border crisis by increasing the number of Border Patrol Agents, resuming construction on the border wall, tightening asylum standards, criminalizing visa overstays, and prohibiting the Department of Homeland Security from using its app to assist illegal immigrants;
• Condemning the Department of Defense’s decision to auction off approximately $260 million worth of border wall construction materials;
• Championing his Securing Our Border Act, which redirects $15 billion of funding passed by Democrats to hire 87,000 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents and utilizes it to bolster security measures along our southern border;
• Introducing the Alan T. Shao II Fentanyl Public Health Emergency and Overdose Prevention Act to utilize powers similar to those under Title 42 so that the Department of Homeland Security continues to expedite the processing and removal of migrants illegally entering the country in response to the fentanyl-related public health emergency; and
• Authoring his bipartisan Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act, a sanctions and anti-money laundering bill aimed at combatting the country’s fentanyl crisis by targeting the illicit fentanyl supply chain, from the chemical suppliers in China to the cartels that traffic the drugs in from Mexico. The bill was unanimously voted out of the Senate Banking Committee and earned 66 Senate cosponsors.