[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 17 (Thursday, February 2, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E118-E119]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 IN SUPPORT OF FAIR TRIALS AND ACCESS TO COUNSEL FOR THOSE WITH MENTAL 
                              DISABILITIES

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, February 2, 2012

  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce the Ensuring Mental 
Competence in Immigration Proceedings Act. My legislation will make 
immigration proceedings more fair and humane for individuals with 
mental disabilities, and help prevent wrongful deportations and 
indefinite detentions. Specifically, this bill amends the Immigration 
and Nationality Act to ensure that immigration judges will have the 
authority to stop proceedings or appoint counsel when an individual is 
not competent enough to represent him or herself due to a mental 
disability.
  The status quo isn't working. Judges who in good faith have 
terminated deportation cases because of a person's inability to 
participate based on mental disability have had their decisions 
overturned. Consequently, these cases end up in an ongoing loop that 
keeps these individuals in costly, inhumane detention or results in 
their unfair deportation.
  Examples of immigrants and U.S. citizens with mental disabilities who 
have been unjustly detained or deported include:
  An immigrant from Mexico with severe cognitive disabilities who was 
declared incompetent by an immigration judge in which he was 
unrepresented by counsel. His case was put on hold and the Department 
of Homeland Security allowed him to linger in detention for four and a 
half years, at a cost to taxpayers of about $300,000;
  A 50-year old legal permanent resident with schizophrenia who had 
lived in New York more than 30 years was ordered by a New York court to 
serve 90 days in a mental institution for trespassing. Instead, he was 
transferred to a detention facility in Texas, where he received no 
medication for weeks. He then faced a proceeding without counsel, and 
was deported to the Dominican Republic so quickly that his family did 
not know what had happened to him until he was gone;
  A citizen who had bipolar disorder and developmental disabilities was 
deported to Mexico, and subsequently to Honduras and Guatemala. It took 
four months to return him to the United States. ICE officials claim 
that he signed a statement indicating he was a Mexican national--he was 
not.
  All of these events could have been avoided if immigration judges had 
the tools they need to properly adjudicate cases involving individuals 
with mental disabilities, and if these individuals had access to 
counsel. We cannot allow citizens and immigrants to be wrongly deported 
or remain in indefinite detention simply because they have a mental 
disability. By granting judges the ability to discontinue proceedings 
when an individual is mentally incompetent or to appoint counsel so 
that the individual receives a fair adjudication, this bill will reduce 
the costs of long detentions and delayed proceedings and make our 
immigration system more just.
  The National Association of Immigration Judges has asked Congress for 
reform. Over fifty organizations including Human Rights Watch, the 
National Disability Rights Network, the American Civil Liberties Union 
and the American Immigration Lawyers Association endorse the Ensuring 
Mental Competence in Immigration Proceedings Act. This legislation is 
the right thing to do for mentally incompetent detainees, for our 
courts, and for taxpayers. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

[[Page E119]]



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