One Love Movement
KEEP OUR FAMILIES TOGETHER
One Love Movement
Philadelphia, PA
United States
OUR POLICY ISSUES
US IMMIGRATION POLICY AND REPATRIATION AGREEMENTS
In 1996, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), expanded the definition of “aggravated felony” under immigration law to include a large spectrum of offenses, including minor offenses (writing a bad check, shoplifting) which are deemed deportable. In addition, the 1996 laws took away judicial discretion from deportation cases. Immigration judges lack the ability to look at all of the circumstances surrounding a case, including rehabilitation, community and family ties, US military service, US citizen children and spouses, and length of time since conviction - before making a determination of whether someone should be removed or not. These laws are also retroactive, leading many non-citizens to face deportation for convictions prior to the existence of the 1996 laws.
On March 22, 2002 the Cambodian government agreed to begin accepting Cambodian-American deportees, since that time 288 Cambodian-Americans have been deported. Over 30 of those people were deported in 2010, and the numbers will continue to increase. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) expect to remove 400,000 immigrants this fiscal year - a 25% increase in deportations from just three years ago. Due to this federal push, foreign governments are giving in to US pressure to begin accepting larger numbers of deportees. The Obama Administration has shifted focus to the deportation of "criminal aliens", which includes any of us who came here as refugees over two decades ago, were granted legal permanent residency, and are now being deported for a crime committed years ago and where time has already been served.
For further commentary and anaylsis of AEDPA and IIRIRA by the Civil Rights Monitor
For the DHS press release regarding present record breaking removals and intiatives
