Speech #880041306

Mr. President. I introduce. for appropriate reference. two bills amending the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952 by placing time limits upon the Federal Government in bringing proceedings for deportation of aliens or revocation of the citizenship of naturalized citizens. The bills are not mutually exclusive. The enactment of both of them would mark an important advance in the procedural protection that we demand for nativeborn Americans. but which have not extended to persons who have long lived in the United States but who were born elsewhere. One is a statute of limitation upon the initiation of proceedings to deport or to revoke citizenship. It is a 5:year statute of limitations. It requires the Federal Government to institute such proceedings within 5 years of the deportable act in the case of an alien. and within 5 years of the granting of final citizenship in the case of a naturalized citizen. We have statutes of limitation for nearly all Federal crimes. It is almost uniformly a 5year limitation. Yet in deportation proceedings. we have seen the U.S. Government go back 10. 20. or more years into a persons past to find an act for which that person can be deported. This practice works the same injustice upon the alien from which we insist nativeborn Americans be protected. It is the difficulty of contracting witnesses. producing evidence. recalling important events. and in general. preparing a case. In my opinion. both aliens and naturalized citizens are entitled to this protection. An analysis prepared by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York of S. 551 of the 87th Congress summarizes the legal desirability of such a limitation. S. 551 was introduced by the Senator from New York . I was pleased to cosponsor it with him. It contained a 10year limitation upon the institution of deportation proceedings. requiring that the proceedings be instituted within 10 years of the deportable act. Said this analysis: Almost all civil remedies and criminal sanctions In our legal system are subject to time limitations precluding adverse consequences for conduct more than a certain number of years past. The law imposes such limitations. not in order to encourage the tortfeasor. the cheat. the burglar. the extortioner. or the corrupt official. to name a few examples of those who may benefit thereby. but because of the harmful social consequences of disrupting human affairs by reason of events in the far distant past.