[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 1319]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



STOP SPLINTERING FAMILIES; START APPLYING AMERICAN FAIRNESS AND JUSTICE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Sununu). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to say that we must stop the 
splintering of American families that resulted from the so-called 
immigration reform act passed in 1996. We must stop deporting 
hardworking legal, I repeat, legal immigrants who are raising stable 
families only because they committed a minor infraction years or even 
decades ago. We must stop hauling away parents in the middle of the 
night in front of their children, and we must stop denying these people 
now in detention the most basic constitutional rights that we in 
America believe everyone should have.
  Yet that is exactly what the 1996 immigration law does. It redefines 
the term ``aggravated felony,'' which sounds so horrible to cover 
virtually every crime ever committed. It is retroactive, covering 
crimes decades ago. It denies basic constitutional protections such as 
bail and visitation rights. Again, I repeat, we are talking about legal 
immigrants, immigrants residing in this country in a legal fashion.
  The law that was passed in 1996 removes the authority of immigration 
judges to take into account a person's contributions to our society as 
well as any past misdeeds. The law removes Federal judges' oversight 
over the immigration process. It allows INS, Immigration and 
Naturalization Service, deportation officials to pick someone up after 
they apply for citizenship, put them in detention maybe in the middle 
of the night without their relatives knowing where they were and hold 
them without bail. Mr. Speaker, this is America. This has to stop. We 
must start to restore justice and fairness to immigration proceedings.
  Let me just give my colleagues a few examples of how this law is 
splintering families in the San Diego area. Just yesterday, I received 
a letter from 13-year-old Aida. Her father had always been a good 
provider; but in the middle of the night, he was picked up by the INS, 
handcuffed in front of his children and deported. Now his family has to 
rely on welfare.
  Allan is 34 years old and came to the United States when he was 16. 
He was arrested for grand theft in his 20s and served a 3-year 
sentence. But today, many years later, he faces deportation despite 
doctors' diagnoses of attention deficit disorder and possibly 
Tourette's syndrome. Several doctors said he should be treated for 
mental illness rather than being incarcerated further for crimes for 
which he has already paid his price.
  Juan, who is 44, has been in the United States since he was a young 
man. He was convicted of drunken driving and served 7 months of a year 
sentence. This sentence was expunged from his record by California 
courts, but still the INS picked him up at his home at 2 in the 
morning. He served more time in detention while waiting for deportation 
than he did for his original DUI.
  I repeat, Mr. Speaker, this is America. Here we do not allow 
unconstitutional actions. Here, actions do have consequences; but we 
have a system of checks and balances to ensure that no branch of 
government can ride roughshod over our rights.
  Mr. Speaker, I propose to roll back the draconian provisions of this 
1996 law. My own bill, H.R. 3272, the Keeping Families Together Act, 
would do the following, and I repeat, this is for legal immigrants. It 
would restore the previous definition of aggravated felon so people 
would not be dragged into jail for very minor crimes. It eliminates the 
retroactivity sections so minor crimes from decades ago are not counted 
against the immigrant. It restores previous standards so as to allow a 
judge to take into account community ties before deciding on 
deportation. It eases mandatory detention requirements for immigrants 
who have completed their sentences or probation. It reinstates the 
authority of Federal courts to review immigration matters. And it does 
ensure, Mr. Speaker, that murderers, rapists, and terrorists, true 
aggravated felons, the people we want to deport, would still be 
deported.
  Mr. Speaker, we need to start here. We need to start to restore 
fairness so that our Pledge of Allegiance truly means with liberty and 
justice for all. We must stop the practices that would shame anyone who 
reveres our constitutional system.

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