Deport Alien Gang Members Act

Key Points

• The bill creates a formal legal definition of "criminal gang" as a group of five or more people involved in serious crimes like drug trafficking, violence, human trafficking, and identity fraud. This definition would be added to the Immigration and Nationality Act and used as the basis for all enforcement actions under the bill.
• Non-citizens linked to criminal gangs would be barred from entering the U.S. and would become deportable. This applies to anyone who is or has been a gang member, or who has helped, promoted, or conspired with a gang's activities, whether those activities happened inside or outside the country.
• Anyone flagged under the gang provisions would face mandatory detention and would lose eligibility for asylum, Temporary Protected Status, Special Immigrant Juvenile visas, and parole. The only exception is for individuals actively helping U.S. law enforcement with a criminal investigation.
• The Secretary of Homeland Security would gain the power to officially designate groups as criminal gangs through an administrative process. Once a group is designated, individuals in removal proceedings cannot challenge the validity of that designation as a defense.
• The bill applies retroactively, meaning past gang membership or activity counts even if it happened before the law was passed. This could affect people who left gangs years ago but are still in the immigration system.