News

Washington, D.C. - The House Judiciary Committee today approved a bill to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) for five years. The Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization of 2012 (H.R. 4970) ensures that federal resources authorized by VAWA go directly to organizations and programs that help prevent violent crime and protect victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. The House bill provides the same levels of funding for VAWA grant programs as the Senate-passed bill.

The Committee voted 17-15 to reauthorize VAWA.  House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), a co-sponsor of the bill, today praised the Committee vote.

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Lamar Smith (TX-21) today released a report on the U.S. Justice Department’s disregard of the Constitution and rule of law.  As Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Congressman Smith is leading efforts to oversee Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department. Rather than enforce the law and uphold the Constitution, the Obama administration has placed partisanship above the rule of law. 

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today implemented several changes to weaken Secure Communities, a program that keeps our neighborhoods safe by identifying illegal and criminal immigrants in police custody who have been arrested and fingerprinted. 

Washington, D.C. - House Republicans today announced that they will introduce a five-year reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) this week. This reauthorization will ensure that federal resources go directly to helping prevent domestic violence and sexual assault, and helping the victims of these crimes. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) praised Representative Sandy Adams (R-Fla) and the women of the Republican Conference for their leadership in reauthorizing the legislation.

Washington, D.C. - Officials at U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently announced that thousands of illegal immigrants have been identified as eligible to benefit from the Obama administration’s backdoor amnesty directives.  In total, ICE has reviewed 219,554 pending cases with 16,544 identified as eligible for prosecutorial discretion as of April 16, 2012.  House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) issued the following statement in response to these new statistics.

Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday is scheduled to hear arguments in Arizona v. United States, the Obama administration’s challenge to Arizona’s immigration law (S.B.1070).  House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) released the statement below urging the Supreme Court to uphold Arizona’s constitutional law. 

Washington, D.C. - Obama administration officials at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced their plan to move forward with the rulemaking process to allow illegal immigrant spouses and children with U.S. citizen relatives to stay in the United States while the federal government decides on their waiver request.  Under current law, illegal immigrants must leave the country before they can ask the federal government to waive the three and 10 year bars on legally coming back to the United States.  House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) released the statement below criticizing the proposed change.