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September vote passed House with bi-partisan support – but not Vermont congresswoman’s
by Dave Soulia on FYIVT.com
When the U.S. House of Representatives voted last September on H.R. 7909, the “Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act,” a bill designed to prioritize the deportation of non-citizens—including both illegal aliens and lawful immigrants—convicted of violent crimes such as domestic violence and sexual assault, Representative Becca Balint (D-VT) voted no.
Targets violent crime
H.R. 7909 targets only those convicted of the most egregious violent crimes, ensuring their removal from the United States. This bill is not about law-abiding non-citizens or individuals who contribute to their communities; it is about predators—those who commit acts of violence that destroy lives. Specifically, it adds the following to the list of deportable crimes:
“(J) SEX OFFENSES.—Any alien who has been convicted of, who admits having committed, or who admits committing acts which constitute the essential elements of a sex offense (as such term is defined in section 111(5) of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (34 U.S.C. 20911(5))), or a conspiracy to commit such an offense, is inadmissible.
“(K) DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, STALKING, CHILD ABUSE, OR VIOLATION OF PROTECTION ORDER.—Any alien who has been convicted of, who admits having committed, or who admits committing acts which constitute the essential elements of—
“(i) a crime of domestic violence (as such term is defined in section 237(a)(2)(E));
“(ii) a crime of stalking;
“(iii) a crime of child abuse, child neglect, or child abandonment; or
“(iv) a crime of violating the portion of a protection order (as such term is defined in section 237(a)(2)(E)) that involves protection against credible threats of violence, repeated harassment, or bodily injury to the person or persons for whom the protection order was issued, is inadmissible.”
The bill passed with bipartisan support, as 51 Democrats joined Republicans in voting to protect their constituents. But Becca Balint stood with 158 Democrats who voted “nay.” She has offered no explanation via her X account on social media, where she often explains her positions on policies and votes. (However, Balint did offer this view on Meta-Facebook disbanding its disinformation squad: “The hate, lies, conspiracy theories, and disinformation spread on social media are dangerous. It’s flagrantly irresponsible to put the burden of fact-checking on users. It’s time corporations are held accountable for the rapid fire spread of misinformation on their platforms.”)
Opponents of HR 7909,, such as Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), claimed the bill could have “unintended consequences.” Under HR 7909, the only individuals affected by this legislation are those convicted of violent crimes. This isn’t a hypothetical issue—it’s a real and pressing problem with devastating consequences.
Balint’s Vote by the Numbers
Opponents often lean on two escape hatches to avoid serious conversations: the “small fraction” fallacy and the “non-citizens don’t commit many crimes” myth. Both deserve scrutiny.
First, the small fraction argument. It’s true that non-citizens account for only 5.4% of violent crime arrests. That may sound negligible—until you realize that this “small fraction” translates into some 67,500 violent crimes in a single year. That’s not a statistic; that’s 67,500 lives upended by murder, rape, assault, or other heinous acts.
Each one of those crimes represents a failure of the system to do its most basic job: protect Americans. And for crimes committed by illegal aliens, these tragedies are entirely preventable. If these individuals had been removed from the country as they should have been, those 67,500 crimes would have never occurred.
The fact that the system allowed so many non-citizens convicted of violent crimes to remain in the country exposes a critical flaw in immigration enforcement. Law-abiding citizens have every right to demand better from their leaders, especially when public safety is at stake.
How the Process Works—and Its Failures
When a non-citizen commits a violent crime in the U.S., the criminal justice process often determines whether they are prosecuted, incarcerated, or deported first. Here’s how it typically unfolds:
Criminal Prosecution First: Non-citizens arrested for violent crimes are usually charged and prosecuted under U.S. criminal law. If convicted, they serve their sentences in state or federal prisons. Only after completing their sentences are they transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for removal proceedings.
Immediate Deportation in Some Cases: In certain situations, non-citizens are deported without serving prison time. This can occur when resources are limited, offenses are deemed less severe, or when local jurisdictions refuse to cooperate with ICE. While deportation ensures the individual is removed from U.S. soil, it often means they avoid serving full justice for their crimes. Worse, the risk of illegal re-entry remains, leaving victims and communities vulnerable.
Failures of Enforcement: Policies in some jurisdictions, like sanctuary cities and states (including Vermont), obstruct cooperation with federal immigration authorities. These policies can result in violent offenders being released back into the community instead of being turned over to ICE for deportation. This failure to act exposes citizens to avoidable harm.
Comparing U.S. Policies to Other Nations
It’s worth noting that many countries take a far stricter approach to immigration enforcement. For example, in nations like Mexico, unauthorized entry is a criminal offense, often resulting in immediate detention or deportation. Border violations in other countries may result in harsher penalties, including imprisonment or even lethal force in extreme cases.
In contrast, the U.S. approach is relatively lenient, especially when it comes to violent offenders. Deportation is often delayed by lengthy legal processes, and some non-citizens remain in the country even after being convicted of serious crimes. This leniency is difficult to reconcile with the government’s primary responsibility to protect its citizens.
By voting against H.R. 7909, Balint effectively placed the hypothetical concerns of non-citizens above the real safety of American citizens. The claim of “unintended consequences” is a weak shield when the reality is clear: this bill applies only to those convicted of violent crimes. The victims of these crimes are not hypothetical—they are real people whose lives have been forever altered.
It’s About Prevention
The most heartbreaking aspect of these 67,500 violent crimes is that they were entirely preventable. Illegal aliens who commit violent crimes shouldn’t be here in the first place. By failing to enforce immigration laws and deport dangerous individuals, our government allows these tragedies to occur. And when legislators like Becca Balint vote against measures like H.R. 7909, they are complicit in perpetuating this failure.
Call to Action
Vermonters deserve to know why their representative chose to prioritize non-citizens convicted of violent crimes over their safety. As part of this article, I reached out to Representative Balint’s office for comment but received no response. If elected officials won’t do their most basic job, it’s up to voters to hold them accountable. Representative Balint’s constituents should demand better.
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Categories: Congress, News Analysis
She was bought for a $1,000,000 in the last election, with money funneled through Ukraine, to FTX to FTX investor to her campaign account.
She will do as she is told.
Nobody in the Democratic party of Vermont is free to vote their conscious or the will of the people they represent. They are told what, how and where to vote.
We should not be surprised.
We need a new game plan, the current one doesn’t work well for Vermonters.
You are right about her being funded with outside spending with an advertising campaign run by the LGBTQ Victory Fund in the amount of $991,909. She was their only donee. As soon as she got to D.C., she sat down with the Washington Blade and came out as ‘queer’, throwing her gay friends under the bus, it seems–‘queers’ don’t think it’s fair to them for others to be same-sex attracted, they say. I have no idea what she will do next. She just voted with Repubs on HR 5349 providing for ‘teaching on the evils of communism’ in high schools. I don’t think we can depend on having people like Jim Jeffords and Bernie Sanders (what happened to him?) again in Vermont.
Maybe she is afraid her or someone close to her will be deported. It’s the only “LOGICAL” conclusion.
Of course she supports not supporting ILLEGALS, esp violent ones from being deported. She was (is) supported by Soros, in addition she was (is) progressive. IMO she is bought and paid for, among many others, by those who HATE this country. Why do Dems/Progressives hate AMERICAN’S so much? Guess what, they will get deported and hopefully you will get voted out or resign. Just like our progressive Mayor and her free dinners and now her ban on press releases. Y’all voted for these ppl, REGRET IT YET? And I hope those on Visa’s since childhood, living off the backs of taxpayers should be deported as well.
” Balint voted not to deport violent felons ” …………. What !!
It appears that Rep.Balint is just another puppet on the left and will do what she is told, and another black eye for Vermont politics.
I Hope she has illegals within her congressional office, either in DC or VT and Tom Homan finds out and they lock her up along with the criminals she supports, apparently, the oath she took means nothing but then again she is a progressive Democrat……………… She’s just another DEI, and this is the outcome you’ll get !!
If there was ever a public “servant” who deserved to be the victim of a repeat-offending criminal, Balint is it.
Along with Burlington’s mayor and district attorney
I support immigrants who waited in line and came in the right way. I oppose rewarding illegal immigrants who broke our laws.
Follow the money. Here is where you find how Becca raised her dough – have some time because there are over 34,000 entries and most are ActBlue, currently under investigation for fraud. Funny – Maggie Nixon is listed as an individual donor than she sends contributions to ActBlue. Small amounts pouring down like little drops into a very large bucket. Kamala spent $1.5 Billion in 15 weeks – big spenders business indeed.
https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?committee_id=C00797175&two_year_transaction_period=2024&data_type=processed
I had a dozen fraudulent donations laundered in my name through ActBlue. They are a criminal enterprise.
Vermonters need to wake up and smell the rotten apples. Balint said no to holding border jumping violent offenders accountable, and her buddy in the Senate, Peter Welch introduced a resolution to silence Vermont’s voice by eliminating the Electoral College for the popular vote. It amazes me that Vermont will elect people who will do everything they can to destroy this state.
She is the enemy of the people says she represents.
It’s an absolute outrage for her despicable NO vote on HR 7909. Vermonter’s should flood her office with email, letters, phone calls to express their outrage and start the process for recalling this enemy of the people. She does not belong in the US House of Representatives or, frankly, anywhere near a public servant position (which includes sanitation work and dog catcher (with all do respect to current municipal employees responsible for these important and necessary jobs) .
She’s a useless Dei hiren she needs to go back where she came from. She doesn’t represent the people of Vermont.
Bernie S. also voted NO in the Senate. So we have two representatives that believe criminals, rapist, etc., should be great US citizens! Disgusting.
Please, by all means, let’s keep violent criminals who shouldn’t be in the U.S. in the first place in the country where they can continue to violate the rights of, and terrorize, U.S. citizens.
That’s strike two for Balint for me. She also said, “Who does Elon Musk think he is” having an opinion about the omnibus bill Balint wanted shoved down our throats. Uh, a U.S. citizen, madam representative.
If this imbecile wasn’t wrong on everything, she wouldn’t be Becca. Vermont voters sure know how to pick ’em.
I also wanted to see how the Democrats voting no could defend their vote, even if our Rep. Balint was silent. One defense can be found at:
https://nadler.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=395187
The net is that other laws already covered the same ground and the way HR 7909 was written had several problems, among them it made hitting a partner in self-defense a reason for deportation (e.g. unintended consequences).
There was a pretty compelling case that the bill was pointless, performative and poorly written. While voting “no” on a bill to protect us from criminal immigrants does cry out for rage at face value, it may actually have been responsible and the big problem was with the Republicans authors who could not write a clean bill.
If ever there was a litmus test to show how ignorant and anti American the Vermont democrat and it’s representatives are, look no further. This cannot be justified and it is democrats proclaiming it is okay and justifiable to hurt anyone.
I hope and pray that the Vermont Republican Party runs someone who can unseat Balint in 2026, and AND whoever the GOP challenger is, that she or he hits hard at Balint’s voting record – something that the Vermont Republican Party hasn’t done in the past. Save all the articles like this one and use them. Run effective campaigns Republicans!
Ask the US Post Office for the images and data collected during the last election cycle. I don’t know about you, but my ballot envelope had 3 bar codes applied by the USPS (not including the original one from the printer). Each of these 3 (three) bar codes means the outgoing ballot was run through a different imaging processor to read the address…and any other information on the envelope face.
Those images contain the (unique voter identifiable) QR code that somebody went to great lengths to make sure they were displayed on the front of the envelope alongside your name and address.
Combine this with the electronic tabulator’s image of the unique QR code, and “voila”…whoever gets their hands on both the USPS image data and the tabulator data can know exactly *HOW* you voted. The definition of mass-scale voter “Fraud.”
Surely, Ms./Mrs./Miss/Gender-Confused Balint must be joking if she thinks anyone has fallen for that. Go ahead: promote your “chosen” and “party-affirming” bureaucrats who have demonstrated fealty to the correct party.
We will have our way with you communists in the end.
[BTW: the picture is far too enamoring for a party sl*t like her…AKA she has no mind of her own]
Well, are we seeing the mistake we’ve made voting for this person?
Our tax dollars here in Vermont have to pay $ 138k/year to incarcerate a criminal. Let the Country they came from pay the price of imprisonment. Vermonters do not deserve to foot the bill.
Latest statistics show it costs Vermont 138, 218 / year !!!
Deport the criminals back to where they came from. It’s not inhumane. What’s inhumane is making the people of Vermont pay for the mismanagement & mistakes of another country’s socioeconomic problems. We do not have an endless supply of money!
https://usafacts.org/articles/how-much-do-states-spend-on-prisons/
Great job Rebecca!, you also voted against protecting women in sports! Do you really think that this is how the majority of Vermonters feel? If so you need to read these replys.