Illegal Immigrants Become Felons Under a New Bill

This week the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is set to pass a new bill making many civil immigration laws into criminal laws, creating some of the toughest immigrant laws passed in the last decade. The laws are being voted on despite President Bush's efforts to grant illegal immigrants the right to stay in the US if they are already working here.

The laws would make living in the United States illegally a federal crime, rather than an immigration-related offence. The current status of illegal immigrants is that they are in violation of the immigration laws but can still eventually win legal status. The new laws would effectively make the millions of illegal immigrants felons.

The new criminal bill would also make it a jail-able offence to employ or protect illegal immigrants. Non-Mexican illegal immigrants in the country illegally would be detained until they are eventually deported to their home counties. Law enforcement agencies throughout the US would be granted the power to detain the illegal immigrants. Additional funds would be appropriated to the law enforcement agencies so that they could effectively handle all of the new felonies.