Posted on April 25, 2023

Illegal Aliens Who Are LGBTQ ‘May Not Be Detained’ Under Democrats’ New Bill

Peter Kasperowicz, Fox News, April 21, 2023

Dozens of Democrats in the House and Senate introduced legislation this week that would make it harder to hold illegal aliens in custody if they qualify as a “vulnerable person,” such as those who are gay, lesbian or transgender, who don’t speak English, or who meet other definitions of the term under the bill.

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Under the legislation, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could arrest illegal aliens and either release them on bond or detain them while a decision is made on whether to remove them from the country. The bill sets out new rules on detention that favor aliens.

For example, officials would have to decide within 48 hours whether to detain an alien, and could only detain them after a determination that “the release of an alien will not reasonably ensure the appearance of the alien as required or will endanger the safety” of others. {snip}

But the bill goes further by seeking to exempt several groups of illegal aliens from any detention at all. It creates a “special rule for vulnerable persons and primary caregivers,” and says these aliens “may not be detained” unless DHS can demonstrate that it is “unreasonable or not practicable to place the alien in a community-based supervision program.”

Under the bill, “vulnerable person” is defined as anyone who is under 21 or older than 60, pregnant, or who “identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex.” Other vulnerable aliens are those who are a victim of or witness to a crime, anyone who has filed a nonfrivolous civil rights claim in court, anyone with a workplace claim, and those with a “serious mental or physical illness or disability.”

Aliens with a credible fear of persecution, “limited English language proficiency,” those experiencing “severe trauma,” and survivors of “torture or gender-based violence” also meet the definition of a “vulnerable person” for which DHS must take extra steps before detaining.

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