Southeast Asian Deportation Relief Act of 2022
Bill: H.R.8922 | Sponsor: Rep. Lowenthal, Alan S. (D-CA)
Policy area: Immigration

Summary:
Southeast Asian Deportation Relief Act of 2022
This bill prohibits the detention or removal of certain nationals of Vietnam, Cambodia, or Laos.
Specifically, this protection from detention or removal shall apply to nationals of these countries who (1) entered the United States on or before January 1, 2008, (2) have continuously resided in the United States since entry, and (3) are subject to a final order of removal.
Such individuals shall also receive employment authorization.
The Department of Homeland Security must notify each individual covered by this bill, as well as information and instructions on how to file a motion to reopen removal proceedings.

To halt removal of certain nationals of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Southeast Asian Deportation Relief 
Act of 2022''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Millions of Southeast Asian Americans live in the 
        United States, including 2,182,735 Vietnamese Americans, 
        338,637 Cambodian Americans, 254,304 Laotian Americans, and 
        326,843 Hmong Americans, according to the 2019 American 
        Community Survey. Many of these communities arrived as refugees 
        beginning over 40 years ago from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, 
        in the aftermath of the wars in Southeast Asia (more commonly 
        known as the ``Vietnam War'').
            (2) The United States intervened in Cambodia, Laos, and 
        Vietnam between 1954 and 1975, to prevent the spread of 
        communism in Southeast Asia through direct military 
        interventions and covert and clandestine operations.
            (3) South Vietnam allied with the United States in 
        opposition to the expansion of North Vietnam until the Fall of 
        Saigon on April 30, 1975. As a result of this service, many 
        Vietnamese Americans to this day still suffer lasting trauma 
        from the war, including post-traumatic stress disorder and 
        exposure to Agent Orange. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) 
        and various agencies enlisted over 30,000 soldiers from Hmong, 
        Lao, and Laotian ethnic groups in Laos as allies to aid United 
        States forces in Southeast Asia, waging a 13-year covert 
        operation called the ``Secret War'' against the Pathet Lao, 
        Viet Cong, and Northern Vietnamese Army.
            (4) The United States heavily bombed Laos, making it the 
        most heavily bombed country in the world, with over 580,000 
        bombing missions between 1964 and 1973. Today, an estimated 
        80,000,000 bombs remain unexploded, with 20,000 people who have 
        been injured or killed since the bombings stopped.
            (5) Between 1969 to 1973, the United States dropped 540,000 
        tons of bombs into Cambodia against Viet Cong forces, 
        destabilizing the country's already fragile government. This 
        mass bombing of Cambodia's countryside helping to fuel the rise 
        of the Khmer Rouge, which subsequently carried out the 
        destruction of Cambodian society and the genocide of an 
        estimated 2,000,000 Cambodians.
            (6) Over 3,000,000 individuals were displaced by war, 
        conflict, and genocide from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. 
        Between 1975 to 2008, the United States Government resettled 
        over 1,200,000 Southeast Asian refugees in this country, as 
        part of the largest refugee resettlement effort in the history 
        of the United States. Southeast Asian refugees included 
        survivors of the war in Vietnam and Laos, the genocide in 
        Cambodia, Hmong soldiers and their families who received 
        refugee status in exchange for their service in the Secret War, 
        and other ethnic minority groups persecuted in the aftermath of 
        the war.
            (7) Many Southeast Asian refugees face significant physical 
        and mental health issues, such as post-traumatic stress 
        disorder and depression, stemming from their experiences 
        escaping war, genocide, torture, and mass starvation. 
        Additionally, many Southeast Asian refugees were resettled in 
        communities that were heavily disinvested and lacked long-term 
        resettlement support, causing many Southeast Asians also suffer 
        from systemic poverty, discrimination, and linguistic barriers.
            (8) Immigrant communities face significant challenges 
        assimilating as a result of the trauma of war. A 2018 study 
        published by Rashmi Gangamma and Daran Shipman in the Journal 
        of Marital and Family Therapy noted that ``the traumatic nature 
        of (immigrant's) forced displacement flight, and resettlement 
        can increase vulnerability to mental distress''. First 
        generation immigrants are especially vulnerable to gang 
        violence within communities in which their parents cannot guide 
        them with cultural or political familiarity.
            (9) Key policies during the 1990s including the period's 
        ``War on Drugs'', passage of the Violent Crime Control and Law 
        Enforcement Act, expansion of the carceral system, and over-
        policing of low-income communities of color entangled a 
        significant number of Southeast Asian Americans, especially 
        Southeast Asian youth, within the criminal justice system. 
        During this period, Southeast Asian youth were incarcerated at 
        twice the rate of White youth for similar offenses.
            (10) Additional immigration policies during the 1990s 
        reinforced this emerging prison to deportation pipeline. The 
        Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 
        1996 (IIRIRA) and the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty 
        Act (AEDPA) expanded the category of crimes that could lead to 
        deportation and limited due process protections for 
        noncitizens. IIRIRA also applied these changes retroactively 
        without proper consideration of an individual's lived 
        circumstances.
            (11) Approximately 15,000 long-term residents of Southeast 
        Asian descent, many of whom initially arrived as child 
        refugees, live in the United States with a final order of 
        removal. These individuals often do not speak the native 
        language of that country, lack familial connections there, and 
        are at risk of being targeted for human rights abuses as a 
        result of historic support for United States anti-communist 
        policies.
            (12) The United States accepted thousands of Vietnamese 
        refugees through the Orderly Departure Program, Humanitarian 
        Resettlement program, and McCain Amendment through 2009, 
        including survivors of re-education centers, former employees 
        of the United States Government and United States companies or 
        organizations, and immediate family members.
            (13) In 2002, the United States and Cambodia signed a 
        bilateral repatriation agreement, hereafter known as the 2002 
        U.S.-Cambodia Repatriation Agreement. Deportations of Cambodian 
        Americans to Cambodia increased by 366 percent the following 
        year. Over 1,000 Cambodian Americans have been deported to 
        Cambodia since then.
            (14) In 2008, the United States and Vietnam signed a 
        bilateral repatriation agreement, hereafter known as the 2008 
        U.S.-Vietnam Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). According to 
        section 2, article 2 of the 2008 Vietnam-U.S. MOU, ``Vietnamese 
        citizens are not subject to return to Vietnam under this 
        Agreement if they arrived in the United States before July 12, 
        1995, the date on which diplomatic relations were re-
        established between the U.S. Government and the Vietnamese 
        Government''. President George W. Bush and President Barack 
        Obama both recognized the 2008 United States-Vietnam MOU's 
        removal protections for pre-1995 refugees.
            (15) In 2020, President Trump's administration entered into 
        a new memorandum of understanding with Vietnam, expanding the 
        categories of immigrants it could deport to include pre-95 
        Vietnamese refugees who were previously protected from removal 
        by the 2008 MOU.

SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON THE DETENTION AND REMOVAL OF NATIONALS OF 
              VIETNAM, CAMBODIA, AND LAOS.

    (a) Limitation on Detention and Removal.--An alien who is subject 
to a final order or removal may not be detained or removed from the 
United States on or after the date of enactment of this Act if the 
alien--
            (1) is a national of Vietnam, Cambodia, or Laos;
            (2) entered the United States on or before January 1, 2008, 
        and has continuously resided in the United States since such 
        entry; and
            (3) is subject to a final order of removal.
    (b) Employment Authorization.--The Secretary of Homeland Security 
shall authorize an alien described in subsection (a) to permanently 
engage in employment in the United States and provide such alien with 
an ``employment authorized'' endorsement or other appropriate work 
permit, which shall be valid for a period of 5 years, and may be 
renewed any number of times.
    (c) Limitation on Periodic Identification.--Upon application to the 
Secretary of Homeland Security, an alien described in subsection (a) 
who is subject to an order of supervision under section 241(a)(3) of 
the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1231(a)(3)) shall not be 
required to appear in-person before an immigration officer for periodic 
identification pursuant to such order of supervision. The Secretary 
shall, in lieu of such periodic identification, require such an alien 
to appear virtually before an immigration officer not more frequently 
than once every 5 years.

SEC. 4. NOTICE FOR CERTAIN NATIONALS OF VIETNAM, CAMBODIA, AND LAOS 
              WITH REMOVAL ORDERS.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide notice of 
the provisions of this Act to each alien described in section 3(a).
    (b) Contents of Notice.--The notice described in subsection (a) 
shall include information explaining the requirements and instructions 
for filing a motion to reopen removal proceedings under section 
240(c)(7) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1229a(c)(7)).

SEC. 5. JUDICIAL REVIEW.

    (a) Review.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an 
individual or entity who has been harmed by a violation of this Act may 
file an action in an appropriate district court of the United States to 
seek declaratory or injunctive relief.
    (b) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act may be construed to 
preclude an action filed pursuant to subsection (a) from proceeding as 
a class action (as such term is defined in section 1711 of title 28, 
United States Code).
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