Senate and House Democrats penned a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday demanding due process for "unjustly deported" migrants, according to a report.
The letter, obtained by The Hill, was signed by 64 congressional Democrats, including 10 senators, and called on Mayorkas to overhaul the system that processes deportation appeals, ideally by creating a centralized office to evaluate the cases of individuals removed from the United States and looking to receive permission to return. Those who signed were led by Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Reps. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., and David Trone, D-Md.
"As you know, these processes can include a deported person filing a petition for review, a motion to reopen their case, or even applying for lawful status while abroad after they have been deported," the letter said, according to The Hill. "In practice, each of these mechanisms are ineffective and insufficient due to the current decentralized review process and the associated lengthy wait times."
The proposal involves creating a centralized clearinghouse at the Department of Homeland Security to process deportation appeal cases similar to ImmVets, a program launched under Mayorkas' leadership that provides noncitizen U.S. military veterans with immigration assistance, including a centralized unit to process appeals to return after deportation.
"Establishing a centralized unit to review requests to return to the U.S. from people who have been wrongfully or unjustly deported is wholly within DHS’s broad legal authority and would bring fairness and credibility to the U.S. immigration system," the letter said.
"What we’re asking is for a centralized unit, we’re not asking for people to massively be allowed [back]," Espaillat told the outlet. "They’ll be able to review each case, and it’s a matter of fairness. I think the average person understands that, and it’s not as charged as the overall immigration debate."
"When someone is wrongfully deported, it doesn’t just impact a lone individual. Oftentimes, as I’ve seen firsthand in my congressional district, that person leaves behind a family that needs them and a community that values their contributions," Cleaver said.
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The legislators' proposal was outlined in a paper published by the National Immigrant Justice Center.
In part, its outline states: "Through deportations, the government is responsible for permanent separation of families, destabilizing and enduring poverty, and incalculable harm to children. All of these harms disproportionately affect Black and Brown immigrant families and communities. Redressing these harms by providing those who have been unjustly deported a chance to come home is a necessary step toward bringing fairness and credibility to the immigration system."
"There’s no question that Black and brown immigrants with decades of life in the U.S. who have contact with the criminal legal system are at much higher risk of deportation, detention, and separation from their entire livelihoods," Nayna Gupta, associate director of policy at NIJC and the author of the paper, told The Hill.
Cleaver added that "immigration is a civil rights issue," noting the proposal is supported by the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
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The Hill cited the cases of a legal permanent New York resident deported after a small amount of marijuana was found during a 2009 traffic stop – years before the state decriminalized marijuana possession in 2016 – and a woman deported to El Salvador in 2020 after living in the United States since 1998, as examples of who could benefit from the proposal.
