The White House is working with Congress to sign a piece of legislation that would enact tough immigration enforcement measures, The Daily Caller has learned.
A picture was posted Tuesday of White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s office whiteboard. On the whiteboard was the message: “Propose Passage of Davis-Oliver bill.”
The Davis-Oliver Act was introduced in 2015 and would restrict law enforcement grants from sanctuary cities, increase immigration enforcement by local authorities, and raise the penalties for several immigration crimes.
A House Judiciary Committee aide told The Daily Caller Wednesday, “Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte has been in communication with the White House about the Davis-Oliver Act. This bill has always been a top priority for chairman Goodlatte and hopes to have it reintroduced soon.”
The White House did not immediately respond to an inquiry about how much of a priority the Davis-Oliver Act is or if the administration has a timeline regarding when they would like to see it introduced in Congress.
The Davis-Oliver Act was introduced by Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy and then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, and was praised by law enforcement and immigration-reductionist groups. The National Sheriffs’ Association and the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers both supported passage of the legislation, which was named after two California police officers who were killed by an illegal immigrant.
NumbersUSA called it the best bill to address sanctuary cities and Center for Immigration Studies executive director Mark Krikorian told TheDC Wednesday that it’s “good news” the White House is hoping it gets passed.
The senate bill introduced in 2015 would have taken multiple steps to crack down on illegal immigration.
In regards to local and state law enforcement, it would have authorized these agencies to enforce federal immigration law, given grants to states to help with this enforcement activity, and allowed these agencies to have access to databases to help them identify illegal immigrants. It would have also stripped federal law enforcement grants from jurisdictions that refuse to comply with immigration detainers.
The legislation would have also made it easier for people to be considered deportable. One example of this would be making legal immigrant members or associates of designated criminal gangs deportable. The bill also increased the penalties for immigration-related crimes, such as passport fraud, and would have levied sanctions on nations that refuse to accept deported individuals.