Speech #CREC-2017-09-13-pt1-PgH7325_t26

H.R. 3697 also bars individuals from ``rais[ing] any question concerning the validity of [a gang designation]'' in their own removal proceedings. H.R. 3697 provides little to no opportunity to challenge for those unjustly subject to a gang designation. A group cannot petition for revocation for two years after the designation, during which time alleged members cannot challenge the validity of that designation in removal proceedings--thereby punishing and deporting individuals over facts they cannot challenge. Similarly, groups have 30 days to file a legal challenge to the designation in court, but that judicial review cannot prevent other pieces of the act from moving forward, such as removal proceedings, until there is a final order from the court. Whether petitioning for revocation or challenging a designation in court, this act has the effect of punishing and removing individuals without providing sufficient options for recourse or redress. H.R. 3697 bars important forms of humanitarian relief for individuals fleeing persecution and children facing situations of abuse, which violates U.S. treaty obligations and raises serious constitutional concerns. At the same time, H.R. 3697 bars individuals accused of gang involvement from asylum and withholding of removal, thus stripping individuals fleeing persecution--including potentially thousands of individuals fleeing gang violence in Central America--from refuge in the United States. H.R. 3697 thus violates U.S. obligations under the Refugee Convention and the international law prohibition of nonrefoulement, or the return of individuals to situations where they will face persecution or torture. H.R. 3697 would also strip children accused of gang involvement of eligibility for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), which provides immigration relief to children facing abuse and neglect. To deport these children would be cruel and irrational when many of the children applying for SIJS have come to the U.S. to flee gang violence in Central America. H.R. 3697 irrationally strips individuals of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) which is an important humanitarian protection for noncitizens. H.R. 3697 expands the scope of mandatory detention, in violation of the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause. H.R. 3697 would require the mandatory detention of immigrants accused of gang involvement, without the basic due process of a bond hearing to determine if the person even needs to be locked up in the first place. H.R. 3697 would impose mandatory detention on individuals who seek asylum at a port-of-entry--many of whom are fleeing gang violence in Central America--by eliminating parole for asylum seekers accused of gang ties. The detention provisions raise serious due process concerns. As the Supreme Court has held, ``[i]n our society, liberty is the norm, and detention prior to trial or without trial is the carefully limited exception.'' Although the Supreme Court has upheld limited periods of mandatory immigration detention where Congress found certain categories of noncitizens to pose a heightened flight risk or risk to public safety, H.R. 3697 sweeps far beyond what is constitutionally permissible. Separate from any relationship with gang affiliation, the TPS-specific provisions of the legislation revise the statute to allow the government to detain noncitizens with TPS ``whenever appropriate under any provision of law.'' This potentially raises the specter that noncitizens who have been granted protection by our government could languish in detention for prolonged periods of time, in violation of due process. The detention provisions are a massive waste of taxpayer dollars. The immigration authorities already have full authority to detain any individual pending a removal proceeding. Individuals remain in detention unless they meet their burden of proving, either to an immigration judge at a bond hearing or to an ICE office make a parole determination, that they pose no flight risk or danger to the community. For the above reasons the ACLU urges a NO vote on H.R. 3697, the ``Criminal Alien Gang Removal Act.'' Regards, Faiz Shakir, Director, Washington Legislative Office. Lorella Praeli, Director of Immigration Policy and Campaigns.