March 31, 2023

REPS. CORREA, CLEAVER LEAD EFFORT TO ADDRESS UNJUST DEPORTATIONS, RETURN UNLAWFULLY DEPORTED INDIVIDUALS

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Representatives Lou Correa (D-CA) and Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO) led a cohort of 36 House Democrats calling on Congress to establish an independent, centralized unit within the Department of Homeland Security to review cases of unjust deportation. With current policies unworkable and impractical, the lawmakers are urging Congress to implement a streamlined process in the Department of Homeland Security to consider requests from individuals who have been unjustly deported and seeking to return to the United States to be reunited with family and loved ones.

“We have a duty to ensure that our nation’s immigration system is fair and just and it is clear that today, this is not the case—especially to rectify unjust deportations,” said Rep. Correa. “Unjust deportations regularly tear immigrant families apart and put them in financial jeopardy, and today, there is no way for them to receive the relief they rightfully deserve. That’s why we’re urging our colleagues to deliver the funding DHS would need to rectify the harm done to these families, and deliver them the justice they well-deserve.” 

“America should be a land where justice and human rights are paramount—but our immigration system as it currently stands fails to uphold these values, and nowhere is that more clear than in the process to rectify unjust deportations,” said Rep. Cleaver. “Right now, there are families across the country who are struggling to get by because an integral piece of their household was unjustly deported and there is no practical way for them to receive relief from DHS and reunite with their loved ones. Congress has a moral obligation to streamline the review process and provide justice to these individuals, who are important, contributing members of their community, and we won’t stop fighting until that happens.”

According to a report from the National Immigration Justice Center, between 2011 and 2013, half a million children in the U.S. experienced the apprehension, detention, and deportation of at least one parent, with over 46,000 mothers and fathers of American children being removed in just the first six months of 2011.

In a letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Homeland Security Appropriations, Cleaver and Correa are calling on Congress to include a provision in the Fiscal Year 2024 DHS appropriations bill that would expand upon language included in the Joint Explanatory Statement to the FY2023 DHS appropriations bill, instructing DHS and its component agencies to create a central unit within DHS to facilitate the return of unlawfully deported individuals. 

The letter from Correa and Cleaver was co-signed by Reps. Nanette Díaz Barragán (D-CA), Cori Bush (D-MO), Andre Carson (D-IN), Greg Casar (D-CA), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Danny Davis (D-IL), Diana Degette (D-CO), Chuy García (D-IL) Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Jahana Hayes (D-CT), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Hank Johnson, Jr. (D-GA), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA), Rick Larsen (D-WA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Grace Napolitano (D- CA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Donald Payne, Jr. (D-NJ), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Linda Sánchez (D-CA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Juan Vargas (D-CA), Nikema Williams (D-GA), Frederica Wilson (D-FL), Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D. (D-NY), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), and Sheila Sherfilus-McCormick (D-FL).

The letter from Correa and Cleaver was officially endorsed by the National Immigration Justice Center.

“Although current law includes mechanisms for deported individuals to return home, in practice, these processes almost never work. Unjustly deported people—many of whom have lived for decades in the United States, served our country, raised generations of family, or served as community leaders—deserve a meaningful chance to come home to reunite with their loved ones. The National Immigrant Justice Center stands alongside members of Congress as they ask the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that our immigration laws provide an effective and accessible remedy for grave injustices generated by the immigration detention and deportation system,” said Nayna Gupta, Associate Director of Policy at the National Immigration Justice Center.

The official letter from Cleaver and Correa is available HERE.

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