Currently half of all people
convicted of illegal reentry have one child living in the
country. Increasing sentences for illegal reentry would also
waste taxpayer dollars, costing huge amounts of money to lock
up non-violent people. H.R. 3004 would punish people who attempt to seek asylum at
the border: H.R. 3004 expands the provisions of INA 276 to
punish not only people who reenter the U.S. or attempt to
reenter the U.S., but also people who cross or attempt to
cross the border. The bill goes on to define ``crosses the
border'' to mean ``the physical act of crossing the border,
regardless of whether the alien is free from official
restraint.'' That means that people who present themselves at
ports of entry to request asylum and are taken into custody
by CBP to await a fear screening would be subject to criminal
charges based on a past removal, even though they are seeking
refuge in the U.S. H.R. 3004 would impose severe sentencing enhancements for
people with multiple entries: The bill would also create new
sentencing enhancements for people who have reentered the
U.S. multiple times, even if they have no other criminal
convictions. If someone has been removed three or more times,
and is found in the United States or attempts to cross the
border again, H.R. 3004 law would provide for sentencing
enhancements of up to ten years. The bill makes no exception
for bona fide asylum seekers, which means that people who are
seeking refuge in the U.S. from atrocities abroad could be
subject to a lengthy prison sentence under these provisions. H.R. 3004 would undermine due process by blocking
challenges to unfair removal orders: The bill will prevent an
individual from challenging the validity of a removal order,
even it was fundamentally unfair in the first place. The
Supreme Court held in U.S. v. Mendoza-Lopez,481 U.S. 828
(1987) that due process requires that a challenge be allowed
if a deportation proceeding is used as an element of a
criminal offense and where the proceeding ``effectively
eliminate[d] the right of the alien to obtain judicial
review.'' This provision in H.R. 3004 is likely
unconstitutional and will cause grave injustice to
defendants, such as asylum seekers who were deported without
the opportunity to seek asylum.
Keywords matched
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