[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 125 (Wednesday, July 31, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5690-S5691]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 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

  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:

                            S. Con. Res. 39

       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

[[Page S5691]]

     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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