Speech #1030118450

Many. many more aliens are incarcerated in State and local jails and penitentiaries. This amendment will provide the means to expeditiously deport those who have violated the hospitality of this country by committing serious felonies in the United States. and it will make it more difficult for those criminal aliens to reenter the country. This amendment expands the definition of aggravated felony so that expedited deportation hearings may be held at the end of the aliens prison sentence of those aliens who commit serious crimes in the United States. It streamlines the deportation procedures for criminal aliens and allows the Federal district courts. at the request of the attorney general. to issue deportation orders at the sentencing hearing of aliens convicted of an aggravated felony. It restricts the defenses to deportation of an aggravated felon alien who has been sentenced to 5 years or more. and it increases the penalties for criminal aliens who fail to leave the United States. or who leave and attempt to illegally reenter the United States after a final order of deportation. Also. the amendment allows electronic or telephonic deportation proceedings. and. where the alien and Government agree. it permits deportation proceedings without the presence of the alien. Finally. the amendment authorizes funds for 5 years for a 24hour criminal alien tracking system which will assist Federal. State. and local authorities in determining whether an individual arrested for an aggravated felony is an alien. and it will assist in identifying deported aggravated felons attempting to reenter the country. The first section applies the expedited deportation procedures in the immigration laws to the following felonies: firearms violations. failure to appear to answer a felony charge. demanding/receiving ransom money. RICO violations. certain immigrationrelated offenses including alien smuggling and sale of fraudulent documents. child pornography. owning or operating a prostitution business. treason. and tax evasion. The second section provides for the streamlining of the deportation proceedings for any alien--except permanent resident aliens --convicted of an aggravated felony. The deportation order would be carried out immediately upon the end of the prison sentence. This provision would also eliminate three types of review of the deportation orderbefore an immigration judge. before the board of immigration appeals. and before the Federal courtbut it would allow a court review to assure that the person sought to be deported is an alien and has been convicted of an aggravated felony. The attorney general may not execute a final order of deportation for 14 days in order to allow the alien an opportunity to seek that Federal court review. The third section allows Federal trial judges to issue a deportation order at the sentencing hearing of aliens convicted of an aggravated felony. Such an order must be requested by the U.S. attorney with the concurrence of the INS commissioner. Notice of intent to seek a judicial order of deportation must be given promptly after a guilt adjudication or plea. The Government must show that the alien is an aggravated felon alien. Judicial deportation in those cases would replace current administrative deportation procedures. Aliens found deportable under this process would have the right to appeal their deportation to the appropriate Federal appeals court of appeals. The fourth section restricts the defenses against the deportation of aggravated felons except those aliens who have been permanent residents for at least 7 years. have lived in the United States during those years. and have been sentenced tonot servedless than 5 years imprisonment. Currently. a permanent resident alien is ineligible for relief from deportation if the alien has served 5 or more years for one or more aggravated felonies. This section would amend the language to make aliens who have been sentenced to 5 or more years ineligible for relief from deportation relief. This standard is more relevant to judging the seriousness of an offense since dangerous criminals are at times released prematurely due to prison overcrowding. or other reasons unrelated to the seriousness of crime. The next section increases penalties for failing to leave the country. or for reentering. after a final order of deportation has been issued. Currently. an alien who is deportable for criminal offenses. document fraud. or as a security risk is subject to criminal penalties of up to 10 years imprisonment for failure to depart. However. there are no penalties for failure to depart for aliens deportable for other reasons. Subsection (a) retains the current 10 year penalty and provides criminal penalties of up to 4 years imprisonment for aliens who are issued deportation orders on other grounds. and who fail to depart. Subsection (b) increases the penalties for criminal aliens who reenter the United States after being deported. Aggravated felons who reenter the United States could be imprisoned for up to 20 years in prison currently the penalty Is 15 years. An alien convicted of other i.e.. nonaggravated felonies who reenters the United States could be imprisoned for 10 years currently the penalty Is 5 years and this penalty will also apply to aliens convicted of three or more misdemeanors. Subsection (c) restricts the judicial review of a deportation order in a criminal proceeding against a deported alien who has reentered the United States. A challenge is available only if it is established that the alien was improperly deprived of judicial review of the original deportation order. and that the order was fundamentally unfair. The fifth section clarifies current practiceeverywhere except in the 9th circuit--that allows deportation proceedings to be conducted by electronic or telephonic means. Currently. immigration judges circuit ride to conduct deportation proceedings. Not all aliens contest their deportation and will agree to conducting the proceeding by telephone or closed vircuit cameras. Others wish to raise issues in the proceedings. but want the proceedings to be conducted as soon as possible. and will agree to electronic or telephonic proceedings. This section makes clearfor all circuitsthat the attorney general is authorized to conduct these types of proceedings. This section also allows deportation proceedings to be conducted. in the absence of the alien. where waived or agreed to by the Government and the alien. Again. at times aliens do not contest the proceedings and will allow the proceedings to proceed without them. This section allows efficient use of Government resources in those instances where the alien consents to the proceedings. Subsection (b) clarifies that the ability to begin deportation proceedings quickly after a criminal conviction does not create a legally enforceable right to have the deportation proceedings conducted within a certain time frame. The final section authorizes funds for 5 years to implement a 24hour criminal alien tracking system which will: provide assistance to Federal. State and local authorities to determine whether an individual arrested for an aggravated felony is an alien. and develop a computerized cystem to Identify deported aggravated felon aliens so that they can be identified if they illegally attempt to reenter the United States. This tracking system was established in the 1988 AntiDrug Abuse Act and a program has been structured. however. funds have never been provided. INS has indicated that this tracking center would be a valuable asset to promptly identify. and eventually deport. aliens convicted of aggravated felonies.