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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 39 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>

118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. CON. RES. 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.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 31, 2024

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

 
    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.

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 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.
                                 <all>
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