[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 708 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 708

     Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the 
   immigration policies of the United States should reduce automatic 
 removal and detention, restore due process for immigrants, and repeal 
               unnecessary barriers to legal immigration.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 27, 2016

Mr. Grijalva (for himself, Mr. Ellison, Ms. Judy Chu of California, Mr. 
 Hinojosa, Ms. Moore, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Takano, 
Mr. Pocan, Ms. Norton, Mr. Takai, Mr. Vargas, Ms. Hahn, Mr. Ted Lieu of 
 California, Mr. Honda, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Conyers, Ms. Edwards, Ms. 
   McCollum, Ms. Brown of Florida, Mr. Nadler, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. 
   McDermott, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Lee, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Hastings, Mr. 
 Cartwright, Ms. Velazquez, Ms. Meng, Mr. Smith of Washington, and Mr. 
 Van Hollen) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                     the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
     Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the 
   immigration policies of the United States should reduce automatic 
 removal and detention, restore due process for immigrants, and repeal 
               unnecessary barriers to legal immigration.

Whereas April 24, 2016, marks the 20-year anniversary of the Antiterrorism and 
        Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, and September 30, 2016, marks the 
        20-year anniversary of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant 
        Responsibility Act of 1996, laws which dramatically expanded the 
        criminalization of immigrants by expanding the range of convictions for 
        which immigrants are automatically detained and removed;
Whereas there is growing bipartisan acknowledgment of the devastating impact 
        that the criminal justice system has on communities of color and that an 
        immigration system that relies on the criminalization of immigrants 
        compounds that injustice;
Whereas these laws removed discretion from immigration judges and restricted 
        their ability to consider whether to remove an immigrant or weigh the 
        individual circumstances of a case, and leaders from the National 
        Association of Immigration Judges support the restoration of this 
        discretion;
Whereas these laws prohibit judicial review of case decisions, which undermine 
        the constitutional protections of due process;
Whereas leaders from law enforcement, including the National Association of 
        District Attorneys and the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, 
        acknowledge that these laws drastically expanded the definition of 
        aggravated felonies to be overly broad and that the Congress must narrow 
        this definition;
Whereas the overbroad definition of ``aggravated felony'', which includes petty 
        offenses such as shoplifting, writing a bad check, or misdemeanor 
        controlled substance offenses, has led to the removal of lawful 
        permanent residents who, on average, have lived legally in the United 
        States for 15 years;
Whereas Human Rights Watch found that between 1997 and 2007, of the 900,000 
        immigrants removed on ``criminal grounds,'' 72 percent were convicted of 
        nonviolent offenses;
Whereas these laws require mandatory detention and have led to the incarceration 
        and long-term detention of thousands of immigrants in for-profit 
        detention centers without access to representation;
Whereas the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 
        created the 287(g) program, which deputizes local law enforcement to 
        enforce Federal immigration law, threatens the rights of United States 
        citizens and immigrants alike, and contributes to racial profiling in 
        multiple jurisdictions;
Whereas these laws created several fast-track removal processes that violate the 
        due process rights of noncitizens, asylum seekers, and other vulnerable 
        populations by expediting their removal without adequate opportunity to 
        contest their case; and
Whereas the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 
        created the three-year, ten-year, and permanent bars, which prohibit 
        immigrants who have a valid family sponsor from obtaining lawful 
        permanent resident status, and other barriers that restrict the ability 
        of otherwise eligible individuals to obtain lawful immigration status: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives supports immigration 
legislation that--
            (1) acknowledges that immigrants and their families in the 
        United States have inherent dignity and are deserving of human 
        rights;
            (2) restores proportionality and fairness to our 
        immigration system by updating the definition of ``aggravated 
        felony'';
            (3) restores discretion to immigration judges to waive 
        grounds of inadmissibility and deportability, which determine 
        who is removed and who can obtain permanent status, based on 
        family and community equities, humanitarian considerations, 
        other individualized circumstances, or because it is in the 
        public interest;
            (4) restores judicial review of case decisions to protect 
        due process;
            (5) eliminates mandatory detention and prolonged detention 
        for immigrants in all cases and preserves the Secretary of 
        Homeland Security's authority to exercise discretion in 
        determining when to detain an individual;
            (6) repeals the 287(g) program and any successor programs 
        that similarly entangle local law enforcement with Federal 
        immigration authorities; and
            (7) repeals the three-year, ten-year, and permanent bars 
        and other unnecessary barriers to legal immigration.
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