III 

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 


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•SCON 39 IS 

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; 


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•SCON 39 IS 

(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 


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•SCON 39 IS 

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 


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•SCON 39 IS 

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 

1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 

2 concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that wrong3 fully or unjustly deported individuals deserve a meaningful 

4 chance to come home to the United States and reunite 

5 with their loved ones through a centralized unit within the 

6 Department of Homeland Security dedicated to reviewing 

7 requests for return to the United States. 

Æ 


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