Statement by the DHS Press Secretary on Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act

WASHINGTON - Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke applauds the U.S. House of Representatives on its passage of the Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act. This bill promotes public safety by denying criminal alien gang members admission into the United States and allowing law enforcement officers to quickly remove them from the United States when they are encountered here.

This legislation will greatly help the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) efforts to target and dismantle transnational gangs, like MS-13, who pose a direct threat to public safety.

MS-13 gang members are notorious for exploiting the communities in which they live and operate – victimizing community members through violence and intimidation, extorting local business owners, recruiting young children into the gang lifestyle, and creating a magnet for violence from rival gangs.  Their members are involved in myriad criminal activities, including murder, extortion, narcotics and weapons trafficking, human smuggling and human trafficking, and other crimes with a nexus to the border.

This legislation will help DHS in its continued efforts to identify, arrest, imprison and/or remove transnational gang members and to suppress violence and prosecute criminal enterprises.