•HCON 119 IH 
raising their families, building their own businesses, and 
contributing to their communities and the United States 
economy; 
Whereas the Supreme Court recognizes deportation to be a 
‘‘particularly harsh penalty’’ and ‘‘the severity of depor-
tation’’ as ‘‘the equivalent of banishment or exile’’ 
(Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 at 365, 373 (2010)); 
Whereas nearly all people who were deported on the basis of 
an unjust removal order, or who have a new claim to law-
ful status since their deportation, have no avenue to 
meaningfully present their case to return home and re-
unite with their loved ones in the United States; 
Whereas Congress offers limited, but critical, procedures 
within United States immigration law for allowing wrong-
fully or unjustly deported people to seek return to the 
United States following deportation, but in practice, 
these mechanisms are difficult to access, onerous to navi-
gate, and rarely result in permission to return; 
Whereas people wrongfully or unjustly deported from the 
United States include— 
(1) people who have been separated from their chil-
dren, families, and loved ones after residing in the United 
States for years or decades; 
(2) recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood 
Arrivals (DACA) program who lost their status as a re-
sult of protracted litigation related to the program; 
(3) people targeted for deportation as retaliation for 
exercising their First Amendment right to protest condi-
tions in the immigration system; 
(4) people who succeeded in winning their immigra-
tion cases subsequent to deportation, but are still unable 
to return; 
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•HCON 119 IH 
(5) people deported for past nonviolent criminal con-
victions who have subsequently demonstrated a commit-
ment to renewal and to their community; 
(6) people whose criminal convictions that were the 
basis of deportation have been expunged or pardoned; 
and 
(7) veterans who served the United States; 
Whereas deportation, by permanently separating people from 
their children, spouses, and communities, leads to desta-
bilizing and enduring poverty, food and housing insecu-
rity, and irreparable psychological harm to children left 
behind; 
Whereas many deported people are sent back to dangerous 
conditions that put their life and well-being at significant 
risk, or to places where they have no personal ties at all; 
Whereas the harms of deportation disproportionately affect 
Black and brown immigrant families, who are overrepre-
sented within the deportation system; 
Whereas the Immigration Nationality Act, relevant regula-
tions, and agency policy, as written, do include certain 
legal mechanisms and avenues designed to allow a person 
to make a case for return subsequent to deportation, in-
cluding through procedures to reopen a closed immigra-
tion court case, to effectuate return upon prevailing on 
an appeal, or to seek discretionary authority to return; 
Whereas these mechanisms that Congress and the agency in-
tended for remedying 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 decision 
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•HCON 119 IH 
makers with the Department of Homeland Security to 
meaningfully consider such requests; 
Whereas a centralized, dedicated unit within the Department 
of Homeland Security that offers a fair and independent 
process for reviewing applications from individuals seek-
ing to return to the United States following a wrongful 
or unjust deportation would ensure greater fairness and 
consistency in adjudication, alleviate the burden on indi-
vidual government attorneys and immigration courts, and 
reorient the Department of Homeland Security toward 
remedying past wrongful or unjust decisions to deport; 
Whereas such a centralized, dedicated Department of Home-
land Security unit focused on considering requests to re-
turn from wrongfully or unjustly deported people could 
utilize the legal and discretionary authority already pro-
vided under Federal law to facilitate the return of those 
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 that have returned to the United 
States postdeportation, demonstrating the feasibility and 
effectiveness of such an approach; 
Whereas establishing a centralized unit to review requests to 
return to the United States from other people who have 
been wrongfully or unjustly deported is wholly within the 
Department of Homeland Security’s broad legal authority 
and would bring fairness and credibility to the United 
States immigration system; and 
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•HCON 119 IH 
Whereas bringing home wrongfully or unjustly deported fa-
thers, mothers, community leaders, and workers is essen-
tial 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 House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that wrong-
fully or unjustly deported people deserve a meaningful 
chance to come home to reunite with their loved ones 
through a centralized unit within the United States De-
partment of Homeland Security dedicated to reviewing re-
quests for return to the United States. 
Æ 
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