On Wednesday evening, the United States House of Representatives voted on the Detain and Deport Illegal Aliens Who Assault Cops Act, originally introduced by Representative Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ). The bill's intent is to require the deportation of illegal aliens who assault law enforcement officers. This value of this piece of legislation seems so staggeringly obvious that it should have been a unanimous vote, doesn't it? Is there any reasoned argument against deporting illegal aliens who attack cops? 

We might ask the 148 Democrats who voted against the bill.

A bill aimed at booting illegal immigrants out of the U.S. if they assault a police officer passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday evening.

It's one of several pieces of legislation that House Republican leaders are putting up for a vote this week as part of National Police Week.

The bill passed with a 265 to 148 vote, with 54 Democrats voting with the GOP.

The bill is called the Detain and Deport Illegal Aliens Who Assault Cops Act and is led by Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J.

What's not clear is what happens to aliens who are charged with a crime in the assault, as we should expect those individuals to stand trial and, if found guilty, to be imprisoned, but given the revolving-door nature of the prosecutorial apparatuses of too many of our major cities just now, perhaps immediate and unconditional deportation — which is in the legitimate purview of the federal government — is more efficient.

The bill would require illegal immigrants to be detained by federal authorities until they can be deported. It would also "create a new category for migrant inadmissibility" specifically dealing with illegal immigrants who were accused of assaulting police, Van Drew said.

The No. 3 House Republican, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Fox News Digital when the bill passed, "House Democrats just voted to protect violent illegal immigrants over our brave law enforcement officers. Once again, the Democrat Party proves they are the most anti-law enforcement party in history."

Granted, the ideal response, of course, would be that anyone in the country illegally, for any reason, regardless of their actions once they arrive here, should be deported. They broke the law by being here in the first place; the number of illegal immigrant encounters at the southern border has spiked since 2020, and there are millions of people now in the country illegally, drawn by non-enforcement of our immigration laws and the Biden administration's utter failure to maintain the southern border — and their actions against the state governors who attempt to do the job the federal government should be doing, but isn't.

See Related: Illegal Immigrants, Charged in Border Riot, Released by Judge 

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg Offers Sweet Plea Deals to Illegals Charged in Vicious Attack on NYPD Cops 

Immigration — we can almost always specify illegal immigration — is a key issue for voters going into the 2024 elections, usually ranking in the top three issues in polls. This is an issue where the GOP holds a huge advantage; the Biden administration seems to recognize this, at last, and is back-paddling on some policies on illegal immigration; one suspects this will be too little, too late.

There is no statement in the article from any of the Democrats who voted against the bill. But you can see the list of those Democrats here.