State Partnerships to Enhance Removal of Criminal Aliens Act

Key Points

• The bill allows the Department of Homeland Security to partner with states, letting state-hired lawyers act as federal prosecutors in immigration courts. These state employees would handle cases involving immigrants in local jails or those who violated state laws, with the state picking up the bill for their salaries.
• It dramatically expands the definition of an "aggravated felony" for immigration purposes. Under the new rules, almost any crime classified as a felony or carrying a potential sentence of more than one year—including theft, burglary, and certain drug offenses—would count as an aggravated felony.
• The proposal makes it much harder for people with criminal records to stay in the U.S. by labeling all aggravated felonies as "particularly serious crimes." This change would automatically bar many individuals from seeking asylum or other forms of protection from deportation, regardless of the length of their prison sentence.
• New categories of crimes would be added to the deportation list, including carjacking, war crimes, and "straw purchasing" of firearms. It also clarifies that state-level drug convictions count even if the specific drug isn't on the federal controlled substances list.
• These changes would apply to everyone, including those whose crimes happened years ago or whose deportation cases are already in progress. This "retroactive" rule means a past conviction that wasn't a deportable offense before could suddenly lead to removal under the new law.