Article from Reason by C.J. Ciaramella.

Republicans in the House passed a bill this morning that would reclassify dozens of federal crimes as “crimes of violence,” making them deportable offenses under immigration law. Criminal justice advocacy groups say the bill, rushed to the floor without a single hearing, is unnecessary, is overbroad, and will intensify the problem of overcriminalization.

The Community Safety and Security Act of 2018, H.R. 6691, passed the House by a largely party-line vote of 247–152. Among the crimes that it would make violent offenses are burglary, fleeing, and coercion through fraud.

“Groups on the right and the left are deeply concerned about the bad policy in this bill and the unfair process through which it came to the floor,” Holly Harris, the executive director of the U.S. Justice Action Network, said in a statement to Reason. “At a time when we have bipartisan support for criminal justice reforms that will safely reduce incarceration and better prioritize public safety, passing a bill that does just the opposite makes no sense at all.”

In April, the Supreme Court ruled in Sessions v. Dimaya that the definition of a “crime of violence” used for federal immigration law—conviction under which can lead to deportation proceedings—was unconstitutionally vague. House Republicans crafted the bill, they say, in response to the Supreme Court’s recommendations in that case. But the criminal justice reform advocacy group FAMM warned that the bill “would label seemingly nonviolent offenses such as burglary of an unoccupied home and fleeing as violent offenses.”

Read the entire article at Reason.