A proposal to crack down on African street gangs by deporting offenders as young as 16 would effectively condemn them to "death sentences", Sudanese community leaders have warned.

With Melbourne facing a recent outbreak of youth crime, Federal Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has said he is considering strengthening laws to automatically cancel the visas of criminals and boot out youth migrants who commit violent offences causing serious injury.

Community leader Richard Deng (right) wants the Turnbull government to stop playing politics. Credit:Joe Armao, Fairfax Media.

The changes were proposed by a parliamentary committee headed by Victorian Liberal MP Jason Wood, and have been backed by state Opposition Leader Matthew Guy, whose election campaign against the Andrews Labor Government centres predominantly on law and order.

But African leaders have warned that such a crackdown is out of touch and dangerous, pointing out that many youth offenders were in fact born here, while those who are not Australian citizens would be returning to war-torn death zones if they were to be deported.