As fresh cases of illegal immigrants arrested and charged with sex assault and rape — with children often victims — continue to make headlines, one wonders when lawmakers will do something substantive to stop this.

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, (R-SC) did, introducing the Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act. It’s a straightforward piece of legislation: in amending the Immigration and Nationality Act, undocumented immigrants convicted of sex offenses would be deported or deemed inadmissible to the country. It includes undocumented immigrants convicted of, or admit to having committed, domestic violence, stalking, child abuse or violating a protection order.

Mace described the bill in an op-ed earlier this month in South Carolina’s Post and Courier:

“The legislation makes sure those who pose a threat are kicked out before they can cause more harm.”

Who could possibly be against a bill protecting women and children?

More than 150 Democrats, that’s who. Newsweek offers a full list of those who voted “no” on Mace’s bill, and the usual progressive suspects are all accounted for, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Nancy Pelosi, and Ilhan Omar.  What’s particularly appalling given the number of illegal immigrants arrested for such crimes recently in Massachusetts are the Bay State representatives who voted against the bill:

Jake Auchincloss

Katherine Clark

Bill Keating

James McGovern

Seth Moulton

Richard Neal

Lori Trahan and

Ayanna Pressley.

The premise is, of course, that any legislation that calls for illegal immigrants to be held accountable for crimes is bad legislation. Calling out criminal behavior is “fear-mongering,” a go-to criticism by Rep. Pramila Jayapal.

“Here we are again, debating another partisan bill that fearmongers about immigrants,” Jayapal said. “Scapegoating immigrants and attempting to weaponize the crime of domestic violence is appearing to be a time-honored tradition for Republicans.”

She said as much in June, as a guest of host Joy Reid on MSNBC. As a Fox News chyron pointed to the case of an Ecuadorian migrant accused of having bound, gagged and raped a 13-year-old girl in New York, the Congressional Progressive Caucus chairwoman scoffed.

“There’s a lot of fear-mongering,” Jayapal said.

Reporting on the arrests of people charged with sexual assaults is fear mongering. Best to sweep it under the rug.

One Massachusetts Democratic Rep. who swam against the tide was Stephen Lynch, one of just 51 Democrats who voted for the bill. The measure passed last week 266 to 158, with all present Republicans voting for it.

The ball is now is Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey’s court as the bill heads to the Senate.

Warren has taken plenty of pro-women stances, especially regarding sexual assault. She posted on X in 2018: ” The Violence Against Women Act – which supports critical programs to help victims of sexual assault, domestic abuse, and stalking – expired at midnight. We could have funded it, but @realDonaldTrump would rather shut down the government for a wall that doesn’t make us any safer.”

Here’s Warren’s chance to ensure that those who assault women and children are deported. We hope she and Markey can put the progressive partisan agenda on the back burner in favor of keeping woman and children in Massachusetts safe.

Editorial cartoon by Bob Gorrell (Creators Syndicate)