[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 39 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. CON. RES. 39
Expressing the sense of Congress that individuals who have been
wrongfully or unjustly deported from the United States who established
significant ties to the United States through years of life in the
United States deserve a chance to come home to reunite with loved ones
through a fair and centralized process within the Department of
Homeland Security.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 31, 2024
Mr. Booker (for himself, Mr. Padilla, Mrs. Murray, Ms. Hirono, and Ms.
Duckworth) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of Congress that individuals who have been
wrongfully or unjustly deported from the United States who established
significant ties to the United States through years of life in the
United States deserve a chance to come home to reunite with loved ones
through a fair and centralized process within the Department of
Homeland Security.
Whereas, since 2014, the United States has deported over 2,000,000 individuals,
and not every such deportation was fair, just, or accurate under Federal
law;
Whereas many individuals who were wrongfully or unjustly deported had resided in
the United States for years or even decades, raising their families,
building their own businesses, and contributing to their communities and
the United States economy;
Whereas, in Padilla v. Kentucky (2010), the Supreme Court states that
deportation is a ``particularly harsh penalty'' and recognizes ``the
severity of deportation'' as ``the equivalent of banishment or exile'';
Whereas nearly all individuals who were deported based on an unjust removal
order, or who have a new claim to lawful status in the United States
since their deportation, do not have an avenue to meaningfully present
their case to return home and reunite with their loved ones in the
United States;
Whereas there are limited but critical procedures under United States
immigration law for allowing wrongfully or unjustly deported individuals
to seek return to the United States after deportation, but in practice
such mechanisms are difficult to access and onerous to navigate and
rarely result in permission to return;
Whereas individuals wrongfully or unjustly deported from the United States
include--
(1) individuals who have been separated from their children, families,
and loved ones after residing in the United States for years or decades;
(2) recipients of deferred action under the Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals program who lost such status as a result of protracted
litigation related to the program;
(3) individuals targeted for deportation as retaliation for exercising
their right under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United
States to protest conditions in the immigration system;
(4) individuals who have succeeded in winning their immigration cases
after deportation but nevertheless are unable to return to the United
States;
(5) individuals deported for past nonviolent criminal convictions who
have subsequently demonstrated a commitment to renewal and to their
community;
(6) individuals whose criminal convictions that were the basis of
deportation have been expunged or pardoned; and
(7) veterans who served the United States;
Whereas, by permanently separating individuals from their children, spouses, and
communities, deportation leads to destabilizing and enduring poverty,
food and housing insecurity, and irreparable psychological harm to
children left behind;
Whereas many deported individuals are sent back to dangerous conditions that
pose a significant risk to their lives and well-being, or to countries
where they have no personal ties at all;
Whereas the harms of deportation disproportionately affect Black and brown
immigrant families, who are over-represented within the deportation
system;
Whereas the Immigration Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.), relevant
regulations, and Federal agency policy do include certain legal
mechanisms and avenues designed to allow an individual to present a case
for return after deportation (including through procedures to reopen a
closed immigration court case), to effectuate return upon prevailing on
an appeal, and to seek discretionary authority to return; however, such
mechanisms intended by Congress and the relevant Federal agencies to
remedy wrongful or unjust deportations are largely ineffective and
insufficient due to a decentralized review process, associated lengthy
wait times, complicated and opaque application procedures, little to no
access to counsel, and a lack of resources for line-level decisionmakers
with the Department of Homeland Security to meaningfully consider such
cases;
Whereas a centralized, dedicated unit within the Department of Homeland Security
that offers a fair and independent process for reviewing applications
from individuals seeking to return to the United States after a wrongful
or unjust deportation would ensure greater fairness and consistency in
adjudication, alleviate the burden on individual Government attorneys
and immigration courts, and reorient the Department of Homeland Security
toward remedying past wrongful or unjust deportation decisions;
Whereas such a unit could exercise the legal and discretionary authority already
provided under Federal law to facilitate the return of individuals whose
removal orders were contrary to law or justice;
Whereas the Department of Homeland Security has already established a successful
central removal review unit, known as ``ImmVets'', for the repatriation
of wrongfully or unjustly deported United States veterans, including
approximately 100 such veterans who have returned to the United States
after deportation, which demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness
of such an approach;
Whereas establishing such a unit is wholly within the broad legal authority of
the Department of Homeland Security and would bring fairness and
credibility to the United States immigration system; and
Whereas bringing home wrongfully or unjustly deported fathers, mothers,
community leaders, and workers is essential for moving toward an
immigration system that prioritizes family unity, community well-being,
economic prosperity, and basic due process: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring),
That it is the sense of Congress that wrongfully or unjustly deported
individuals deserve a meaningful chance to come home to the United
States and reunite with their loved ones through a centralized unit
within the Department of Homeland Security dedicated to reviewing
requests for return to the United States.
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