On Monday, April 3rd, President Donald J. Trump declared this week to be National Crime Victims’ Rights Week to bring awareness to the negative – sometimes fatal – impact crime has in our communities.

In many cities and towns across the country, criminal activity and violence has steadily risen over the past several years. It seems that in this day and age, you cannot watch the local news without hearing several tragic stories of shootings, robberies and assaults affecting your neighbors and friends.

President Trump recognizes that along with every crime committed there is a victim – an innocent person whose life has been permanently scarred.

I am pleased that this Administration is bringing attention to the victims of crime, along with taking proactive steps to prevent such crimes.

Just a few weeks ago, national news broke on how two illegal aliens from Central America raped a 14 year-old young girl in the boys’ bathroom of a public high school in Rockville, Maryland. These two young men, Henry Sanchez-Millian, an 18-year-old from Guatemala, and Jose Mantano, a 17-year-old from El Salvador, came across the southern border last year as “unaccompanied minors,” and were released under Obama Administration policies to join relatives in Maryland.

Just a few hours away in Bedford County, Virginia, three male illegal aliens affiliated with the extremely violent MS-13 Salvadoran gang, were charged last week with second-degree murder for the death of 17-year-old high school senior Raymond Wood.

One of the young men, Jose Corea-Ventura, was already wanted in connection with the murder of a young man in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Last week Marco Perez-Geronimo, another illegal alien, was arrested on first-degree murder charges for allegedly beating his girlfriend to death in January. Had he been deported, this young woman would be alive today.

The government’s failure to secure our border and deport criminal aliens has a direct impact on the safety of Americans. In too many cases, criminal aliens have simply not been deported because their home country refuses to take them back. This is absolutely unacceptable.

President Trump addressed this issue in one of his first Executive Orders by instructing the State Department to withhold the issuance of new visitor visas for those from countries that do not take back their criminal alien citizens.

My bill, H.R. 82, The Criminal Alien Deportation Enforcement Act, would codify the President’s actions into law and also withhold foreign aid from countries that refuse to take back their citizens. This common-sense bill would ensure that countries benefiting from the goodwill of America hold up their end of the bargain to take back their criminal aliens.

National Crime Victims’ Rights Week is an opportunity to highlight what happens when our immigration laws are not enforced, including the harmful policies of sanctuary cities.

For the sake of these victims and their family members, it is crucial that we secure our border, deport criminal aliens and assist the victims of crimes.

I support President Trump in his efforts to achieve these goals, and specifically applaud him for establishing a special office to assist victims of crimes committed by illegal aliens. The Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) will help those harmed by criminal aliens and demonstrates that failed immigration enforcement is not a victimless crime.

True to the office’s name, these individuals will finally have a “voice” with which to tell their stories. There are many who, in the name of political correctness, seek to silence these victims. But there is too much at stake in our great nation for that to let them succeed.

It is my hope that more legislators, from both sides of the aisle, will also support victims of crimes committed by criminal aliens and accurately diagnose the root of the problem, which is failed immigration enforcement. We should all be thankful that we have a President willing to stand up for all Americans.

Congressman Brian Babin serves the people of Texas’s 36th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.