[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 21168]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  THREATS TO U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY: DEPORTATION POLICIES THAT FORCE 
                             FAMILIES APART

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 27, 2007

  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, conversations on this very important topic 
are necessary to recognize the consequences of criminally convicted 
U.S. residents deported to Latin America and the Caribbean. I commend 
Chairman Engel for taking an interest and exploring the challenges that 
our deportation policies have imposed on the region. I look forward to 
working with you and the Committee, as you examine this issue.
  Recently, the Presidents and Prime Ministers of the Caribbean 
Community (CARICOM) visited the U.S. Congress. They spoke with several 
members and met with committees regarding the issues affecting the 
region. One major concern for them is the impact of thousands of 
criminally convicted deportees from the United States to the nations of 
the Caribbean. At times these individuals are repatriated without 
notice to the receiving country, regardless of the impact their arrival 
will have upon the societies to which they are being sent. The adverse 
impact of this practice is not only felt in the Caribbean, but in our 
communities as well, due to the financial burden it places on the 
families left behind without means of support.
  The CARICOM members are not asking for a change in the policy, but 
adjustment to how it is executed. The CARlCOM members understand that 
residence permits are a privilege granted to non-citizens contingent on 
their good behavior. Clearly, the commission of a crime does not 
constitute good behavior. However, mothers and fathers are being 
separated from their families without making the appropriate provisions 
for the welfare of children who remain in our country. Those 
repatriated sometimes have no support units in their country of 
citizenship and are forced into a life of poverty, as well as 
stigmatized for being deported. In addition, the families they leave 
behind are left with huge legal bills or in situations where they have 
to fend off poverty. It is my contention that poverty is a threat to 
the national security of the United States.
  The Human Rights Watch in their July 2007 Report entitled ``Forced 
Apart Families Separated and Immigrants Harmed by United States 
Deportation Policy,'' stated that since 1996 approximately 1.6 million 
families have been torn apart by the U.S. deportation policies. The top 
ten countries of origin for non-citizens removed on criminal grounds 
represent Latin America and the Caribbean. Mexico being the most 
affected of these nations; with over 500,000 Mexican nationals being 
repatriaed between FY 1997 and FY 2005. Haiti, the poorest nation in 
our hemisphere, is among the top 10 with over 3,000 individuals being 
returned to that nation. Many parents explained that their children, 
the vast majority of whom had been left in the deporting country, faced 
extreme hardships, both emotionally and financially. These are American 
children that are forced into situations where they have to abandon 
school to support their families. These are American children sometimes 
forced to live in single-parent households or households without a 
parent. Ushered into a life of poverty. Poverty not only pricks our 
conscience, but it shortchanges our future as well. Society ultimately 
pays for poverty through a less productive workforce; more crime, 
higher use of welfare, greater drug addiction and other social ills.
  We need to support initiatives to integrate repatriated individuals 
into their new society. Often they have spent their entire life in the 
United States and lack a support system in the receiving country. 
Recommendations that need to be explored include funding to expand or 
establish resettlement programs. These programs should be geared to 
setting up transition centers where individuals are afforded basic 
resources such as food, clothing and shelter. Job training programs and 
social service type institutions need to be reinforced in the region, 
since upon deportation, many of them drift into homelessness, and with 
no job prospects, they end up doing crime as a means of survival.
  There needs to be the creation of a system to track and monitor high-
risk criminal deportees. In some situations criminals are repatriated 
and no formal processing takes place in the receiving country. In 
essence they are let loose into the community and there are no systems 
in place to track their movement in the receiving country. It is 
believed that there is a correlation between the increase in gang 
related activity in the region and deportees. These individuals often 
make their way back into the U.S. or form part of trans-national 
organized crime units.
  I am glad to see that this hearing has been convened to explore ways 
this Congress can help our neighbors in the Region address this issue. 
Failing to properly reintegrating repatriated individuals is a 
challenge that negatively impacts our neighbors and threatens our 
national security.

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